Ghanaian energy company Genser Energy has secured €456 million ($527 million) in debt financing as it prepares for its next phase of growth across West Africa. The financing, arranged by South African banks RMB, Absa and Standard Bank, will provide working capital for ongoing engineering and construction projects while strengthening the company’s balance sheet and giving it room to expand. Genser also plans to raise a further $350 million in equity, with founder and CEO Baafour Asiamah Adjei targeting eventual listings on the New York Stock Exchange and a West African bourse.
The new capital will support a significant expansion of Genser’s integrated gas-to-power business in Ghana. The company is upgrading its open-cycle gas turbine plants to combined-cycle systems, which should improve generation efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. It also expects to commission its Gas Conditioning Plant and Takoradi Natural Gas Liquids Export Terminal later this year, while a gas processing plant under construction in Prestea is also being prepared for launch. Together, the projects are designed to give Genser greater control over the gas supply chain feeding its power-generation operations.
Genser is also taking its model beyond Ghana. The company is preparing to begin construction of a 470 MW gas-fired power project in Taboth, Côte d’Ivoire, about 40 kilometres west of Abidjan. It is also exploring opportunities to source cheaper Nigerian gas and expand its integrated gas infrastructure and generation model into additional West African markets. The strategy is built around controlling more of the chain—from gas processing and conditioning to electricity generation and, potentially, regional energy trading.
The expansion comes as West Africa faces a difficult energy paradox: electricity demand is rising rapidly, but reliable generation remains scarce, while investors and governments are under increasing pressure to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire have all relied heavily on natural gas to strengthen their power systems, but the economics of new gas infrastructure are increasingly being tested against falling renewable-energy costs and tighter climate policies. Genser is betting that gas will remain important because it provides dispatchable power that can complement intermittent solar and wind as electricity demand grows.
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For Genser, the bet is about more than building individual power plants. The company is trying to build a regional energy platform around natural gas, linking fuel supply, processing, generation and infrastructure across multiple markets. Adjei says the company has already raised billions of dollars but is not yet profitable, making the latest financing an important step toward scale. The question now is whether that scale can turn an integrated gas business into a profitable regional power player—and whether natural gas can retain its role as West Africa builds a more diversified energy system.
