Zener Raises CFA13.5 Billion CFA With Ecobank to Expand in Guinea-Bissau

Energy

Tuesday, 19 August 2025 10:23

Zener Raises CFA13.5 Billion CFA With Ecobank to Expand in Guinea-Bissau

(Togo First) - • Zener International Holding (ZIH) secured CFA13.5 billion with Ecobank’s support to expand in Guinea-Bissau.
• The funding will finance the takeover of Petrogal Guinea-Bissau assets, including petrol stations, fuel depots, and aviation storage.
• BOAD and other regional institutions joined the deal, reflecting a wider trend of African players replacing international majors.

Togolese energy group Zener International Holding (ZIH) has raised CFA13.5 billion to develop operations in Guinea-Bissau. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), through its subsidiary EDC Investment Corporation (EIC), structured the fundraising, the company confirmed this week.

The deal allows Zener to take over the assets of Petrogal Guinea-Bissau, once owned by Portugal’s Galp Energia. The assets include a network of petrol stations, strategic fuel and gas depots, and aviation storage facilities across the country.

“Taking over Petrogal GB means establishing a long-term foothold in a high-potential market and promoting a vision of locally invested, forward-looking energy,” said Jonas Aklesso Daou, president of ZIH.

Ecobank said the transaction fits its ambition to support African-led economic growth. “By facilitating this takeover, we are affirming our commitment to supporting visionary African companies in key sectors,” said Paul-Harry Aithnard, Ecobank’s Regional Executive Director for the West and Central African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

Ecobank worked with other regional financial institutions to complete the operation. BOAD contributed CFA5 billion in June, underscoring the scale of pooled financing behind the deal.

The transaction reflects a growing trend: global energy majors are gradually reducing their footprint in Africa while regional firms such as Zener expand. Analysts see this as part of broader pan-African growth and integration.

This is not Zener’s first major financing. In August 2022, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector arm, granted the company €16.2 million. That package expanded LPG storage capacity by 3,600 tonnes, equipped five new service stations with gas cylinder exchange modules and solar kits, and supported energy transition infrastructure.

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