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Barnard with Prospect security
officer James Joseph

ingness to engage with the “We also have the special economic
country. zone licence and will likely have a Eu-
Now, with the most difficult ropean customer base,” he said. “That
challenge looming, project means the bank we will get a receipt of
finance, Prospect has turned payment from the European customers
to African sources. which will be enough to cover our debt
“We are talking to a num- repayment. That is why securing Euro-
ber of DFIs and there is a lot pean offtake is the priority.”
of interest from African DFIs The company expects a 65/35 debt/
in particular,” Barnard said. equity split for funding of Arcadia’s
“They all have a Zimbabwe $US162 million capex. Hosack said the
allocation in their book so entry of Afreximbank would smooth the
there is a willingness to in- path for the equity component.
vest in the country.” “All the equity investors were con-
In December, Prospect cerned with the debt component but now
mandated African Export- we have Afreximbank in those concerns
Import Bank (Afreximbank) are eased.
to manage a $US143 million The company is also engaging with its
syndicated project finance proposed European customer base over
facility. Afreximbank is pro- funding contributions.
posing to hold $US75 million That Prospect can still retain such op-
itself. portunity despite being buffeted by both
“Afreximbank is one of the market and jurisdictional headwinds
largest and most present DFI speaks volumes about the business
in Southern Africa and their case. Hosack is confident a change in
regional centre is situated in wind direction could see it through to de-
While the country continues to rank Harare,” Hosack said. “It delivers invest- velopment.
poorly in international comparisons. It ment decisions for projects across 24 “Zimbabwe and lithium both capitu-
has consistently finished in the bottom countries in Africa out of Harare as they lated last year so it was a challenging
10 globally in the Fraser Institute’s Pol- find Zimbabwe to be an easy and appro- period for us but, we see economic sta-
icy Perception Index and placed 140th priate operations base in the southern bility in both situations in the year ahead
of 192 jurisdictions in the World Bank’s countries area.” which is a good sign for the company.”
Doing Business 2020 report. Prospective financiers will demand
While Hosack readily admits Zimba- clear evidence of Prospect’s ability to – Dominic Piper
bwe’s reputation is still low, he points service debt with export revenue gen-
to the market support Prospect has erate. Hosack said the SEZ status pro-
enjoyed as evidence of investors’ will- vided investor comfort.

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT MaRCH 2020 Page 51