JOHANNESBURG, September 2, 2026 — The Africa Finance Corporation [ AFC ] has joined African Energy Week [AEW] 2026 as a Gold Partner, reinforcing the event’s role as a key meeting point for institutions financing Africa’s energy and infrastructure development.
The partnership comes as the pan-African multilateral finance institution completes a record cycle of capital deployment spanning refining, transport, power generation, and upstream oil and gas.
AFC’s 2026 deal flow demonstrates the depth and breadth of this investment. In August, the institution led investors in a US$ 2.5 billion private placement for the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals complex in Lagos, described as the largest publicly disclosed primary equity private placement in African history. The deal was oversubscribed 3.7 times.
In July, AFC reached financial close on the US$ 753 million Lobito Corridor Railway Project in Angola alongside the US International Development Finance Corporation [DFC] and the Development Bank of Southern Africa [DBSA]. The 1,300-kilometre cross-border railway rehabilitation project will link the Port of Lobito with the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] border.
AFC financing also supported what will become Burkina Faso’s largest power plant.
In June, AFC raised a record US$ 2 billion syndicated loan, which was upsized from an initial target of US$ 1.6 billion and attracted lenders from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In July, the institution raised US$ 500 million through a Eurobond at the tightest pricing in its history. In August, it became the first African institution to issue a digital bond, raising CHF350 million on a regulated Swiss digital exchange.
AFC’s assets now exceed US$ 19 billion, while its membership spans 48 African countries. The institution also holds A-level investment-grade ratings from both S&P and Moody’s.
AFC’s Gold Partnership gives AEW 2026 delegates direct access to an institution operating across the full infrastructure and energy value chain, from project development and advisory services to equity, debt and risk mitigation.
The corporation’s State of Africa’s Infrastructure Report 2026, launched in Nairobi in April, found that Africa’s non-bank domestic capital pools now exceed US$ 2 trillion. The report argued that the priority has shifted from raising capital to deploying it productively.
AEW 2026 is built around that challenge, and AFC’s presence strengthens the event’s ability to connect bankable projects with institutions prepared to finance them.
“AFC has consistently demonstrated that African infrastructure and energy projects can attract serious capital when the structuring is right and the institutions behind them are credible. Having them at AEW strengthens the conversation between project sponsors and the financiers who can move deals forward,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.
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