British International Investment

Klinchenberg B.V.

Central AfricaEast AfricaSouthern AfricaInfrastructure

Klinchenberg B.V. (also known as the Scatec-Norfund-BII Africa Hydropower Joint Venture) is a joint venture we are entering with Norfund and Scatec, a leading renewable energy solutions provider, to invest in hydropower projects across Africa in a huge boost to the continent’s renewable energy.

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

Our investment in the Scatec-Norfund-BII Africa Hydropower Joint Venture through Klinchenberg B.V. is supporting large-scale African hydropower projects and providing clean power to meet the demands of millions of people. At the time of investment, it is our largest investment in hydropower in our 74-year history, with up to $200 million of capital committed over the next several years.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Improve access to reliable, clean and affordable electricity (SDGs 7.1, 7.2)
  • Increase the share of renewables to avoid greenhouse gas emissions (SDG 13A)
  • Enable economic growth and productive employment through firm productivity (SDG 8.5)

How?

How?

Support the addition of 260MW of renewable generation capacity, thereby increasing the supply of reliable, renewable and affordable electricity for consumers and displacing carbon-intensive energy sources.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Planet

Global

Firms and employees

Pan-Africa

Unknown

Consumers

Pan-Africa

Urban and peri-urban households

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

The joint venture’s investments are expected to support the creation of 180,000 jobs, avoid at least 270,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, and could provide enough clean electricity to meet the equivalent demand of over three million people.

We expect the impact on economic opportunities to be deeper in countries with high poverty and unemployment rates in sub-Saharan Africa.

We expect the impact on quality of life for consumers to be deeper for high=income consumers who use more electricity.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: Long-term equity is required for hydropower project development in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Value additionality: Our presence in the joint venture can provide confidence for other investors.

Grid score

Grid Score

To help us direct our investments, we previously used a tool called the Development Impact Grid. It scored investments out of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in a country and the propensity of the sector to generate employment. This tool was used for investments until the end of 2021. Since 2022 it has been replaced by the Impact Score.

3.87

Risk

Unexpected Impact Risk
  • Hydro projects often present significant and complex environmental and social risks, including physical or economic displacement of local communities and potential impact on indigenous people, cultural heritage and critical habitats.
Alignment Risk
  • Hydro project development is challenging and takes significant time. Commercial players might not pursue new projects, focus on less impactful projects and/or focus on other geographies. Based on the existing pipeline and Norfund’s involvement we believe there is alignment on the developmental strategy for this commitment.
Execution Risk
  • the implementation of hydro projects requires specialist expertise. Scatec has a proven track record in hydro development.

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D3964
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa
    Country

    The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.

    :
    Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Infrastructure

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Equity
    Start date :
    December 2021
    Amount :
    $137m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    Netherlands
    Climate finance

    Indicates whether the investment is climate finance qualified or partially climate finance qualified and the type of climate finance (adaptation, mitigation or both). We define climate finance using the multilateral development bank (MDB) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) Common Principles climate finance methodology. See Common Principles for Climate Mitigation Finance Tracking and Common Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Finance Tracking. We provide the climate finance qualification and type for commitments from 2020 onwards, which is when we launched our Climate Change Strategy.

    :
    Fully qualified
    Climate finance type:
    Mitigation

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