West Africa Growth Fund to invest in Foxtrot gas field off Ivory Coast

The Abidjan-based West Africa Growth Fund (WAGF) has said it is investing $ 2.5 million in the development of the Foxtrot gas field off Ivory Coast.
WAGF officials said the investment was in the form of income bonds issued by Ivory Coast's national petroleum company, Petroci, one of the Foxtrot field developers.

Income bonds are a form of quasi-equity that give investors a stake in the equity while also paying a coupon, at below market interest rates, over a fixed period.

The Foxtrot development consortium also includes Apache, Saur International, which is part of France's Bouygues Gaz de France and Electricite de France.
Foxtrot will supply natural gas to both domestic and regional independent power producers.

Economic growth in West Africa has caused electricity demand to soar, and supply problems have been exacerbated by drought in Ghana, which relies heavily on hydro-electric power. Drastic power rationing has been enforced in Ghana, Benin and Togo, and Burkina Faso has also been affected.
WAGF said independent power producers were expected to meet rising demand in West Africa and at the same time allow high-cost existing capacity to be phased out.
Ivory Coast has recently promised to step up electricity supplies to Togo and Benin, hard hit by Ghana's problems. It also supplies Ghana itself and is expanding its network to Mali and Burkina Faso.

The WAGF is a closed-end investment fund capitalised at $ 26 mm.