Bracewell’s Ro Lazarovitch and Tom Jamieson told Project Finance International to look at the players investing in African mining to understand where demand will steer project financing and development over the next four years.
“Western investors are more cautious investing in African mining projects because risk perception and guarantee costs are higher for them,” Lazarovitch said, adding that the “US foreign financing halt remains a big question mark over which only guesses can be made, but no answers or real predictions can be given until further steps in the Trump administration’s foreign aid plan are unveiled in April.”
“A space to watch is the increased presence of cash-intensive GCC investors stepping into mining and power investments across Africa, often able to mitigate risk better thanks to greater liquidity and their lower cost of capital,” Jamieson said, adding it must not be overlooked that “Chinese investors are already an established presence and are able to collaborate with international developers more than in other jurisdictions.”
