By: Creamer media

In October, Kefi indicated that, of the total project funding requirement of $340-million, debt offering had been formally accepted for $240-million, and the remaining requirement of $100-million needed to be in the form of equity-risk capital, of which $40-million had already been arranged and $60-million was yet to be filled.

Since then, the detailed debt documentation for $240-million has been assembled for execution.

Meanwhile, for the $60-million which has yet to be finalised, Kefi has signed terms sheets for $40-million in the form of equity-ranking gold streams, which give it the right to draw up to an aggregate of $20-million, together with the conditional right to an additional $20-million subject to due diligence.

Moreover, the company is processing proposals of $43-million for its Ethiopian birr-denominated preference shares with specific qualified local investors, $23-million of which has progressed into the detailed documentation stage.

Also, a $50-million in-country-level investment by a specialist African fund remains in advanced discussions, together with consideration of other proposals to optimise the equity-risk component of the project financing should they be preferred.

Kefi says it intends to finalise the entire project finance package this month as targeted, enabling full launch.