Egypt-focused private equity fund manager BPE Partners has reached financial close for three solar power projects in Egypt in partnership with renewable energy developers Infinity Solar Energy and ib vogt. 

The total investment cost of the three solar plants located in Ben Ban, Egypt, for a combined capacity of 130 megawatts, is $190m.

Hazem Barakat, Founding Partner and Chairman of BPE Partners, said: “We are very pleased to have our first investment in the renewable energy sector in Egypt.”

The projects will be financed through equity and debt contributions from development finance institutions including European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The projects are part of the second round of the Feed-in Tariff program (FiT), a program established by the ministry of electricity to encourage renewable energy and private sector evolvement in energy generation.

“We envision this to be the start of a growing platform in this sector with Infinity Solar,” said Yehia Omar, Head of Renewable Energy at BPE Partners.

Mohamed I. Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Infinity Solar, said: “We are extremely pleased to be collaborating with BPE Partners, a company that parallels our vision and commitment to bring renewable energy to Egypt and the entire region. Our combined expertise and dedication will pave the way to a hopefully greener and more sustainable future for our children and generations to come”.

BPE Partners, formerly Beltone Private Equity, is a fast growing, Egypt-based private equity manager founded in 2006 with approximately EGP15bn of market value of its investments.

BPE Partners portfolio companies include TOTAL Egypt, Madinet Nasr for Housing and Development (MNHD), PGESCo, Giza Systems, Cairo Kidney Center, Bio Pharma Egypt and Al Isamelia for Real Estate Development.