https://newsletter.en.creamermedia.com
Africa|Botswana|Business|Export|Infrastructure|Iron Ore|Logistics|Ports|PROJECT|Projects|rail|Road|Transnet|transport|Products|Infrastructure
Africa|Botswana|Business|Export|Infrastructure|Iron Ore|Logistics|Ports|PROJECT|Projects|rail|Road|Transnet|transport|Products|Infrastructure
africa|botswana|business|export|infrastructure|iron-ore|logistics|ports|project|projects|rail|road|transnet|transport|products|infrastructure

Thelo to raise $250m with eye on Africa’s giant rail corridors

25th June 2024

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

Thelo Group’s management plans to buy Deutsche Bahn’s 49% shareholding and is in talks with financiers to raise $250-million to help the South African company transform into a developer of rail lines and ports in sub-Saharan Africa.

The capital will be used “to expand our capacity quite aggressively,” fund “project preparation on some of the projects that we’ve already secured” and inject equity into them, Thelo’s chairperson Ronnie Ntuli said in an interview, adding that the company may ultimately seek to list on a stock exchange. Talks are being held with African financiers, including development finance institutions, as well as international investors over both debt and equity investment, he said.

The firm’s plans come as African countries from South Africa to Ghana seek to attract investment in rail and ports to boost exports of metals and agricultural products and cut costs as 80% of the goods on the continent are currently transported by road. The company currently has a unit that runs trains and has advised on a number of government plans to revive rail networks.

The company - which currently runs trains in Tanzania, Zambia, Eswatini and Mozambique - is in talks to win contracts to develop multibillion dollar rail and port networks in two African nations, which Ntuli declined to identify. Those would add to a $3.2-billion project that the company is part of to develop and upgrade Ghana’s Western Railway Line and then manage it for 25 years. That line will help the country export bauxite, manganese and iron ore as well as transporting passengers.

It’s also part of groups who have been shortlisted to develop the Trans-Kalahari Railway project, which will connect Botswana to Namibia’s Walvis Bay, and the Boegoebaai project, a 50 billion rand ($2.7 billion) green hydrogen-focused port and rail network in South Africa should they go ahead.

Thelo, which was founded more than a decade ago, sees an opportunity to benefit from Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area - which when fully operational will be the largest single market by area since the formation of the World Trade Organization.

“As a result of AfCFTA, the transport sector is expected to expand by nearly 50%, significantly boosting intra-African trade” the company said. “But its success hinges on improving Africa’s road, rail and transport infrastructure,” it said.

The company also sees possibilities for doing business in South Africa where the state logistics firm, Transnet, is preparing to let privately owned trains run on its tracks for the first time and to invite private investment in infrastructure. South Africa has 23 000 km of rail tracks, accounting for 85% of Africa’s rail network.

While Ntuli wouldn’t say how much Deutsche Bahn, which is owned by Germany’s government, will be paid for its stake, he said the company will remain a technical adviser and won’t compete with Thelo in Sub-Saharan Africa.
 

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

Showroom

Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
GreaseMax
GreaseMax

GreaseMax is a chemically operated automatic lubricator.

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (08/11/2024)
8th November 2024 By: Martin Creamer

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:1.152 1.251s - 174pq - 3rq
Subscribe Now