Private equity firm backs Panama gas power project with $175mn loan
Private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) announced on January 11 that with co-investors it had lent $175mn to fund the construction of a 670-MW gas-fired power plant in Panama.
GIP provided the loan to Group Energy Gas Panama for the cogeneration power station in Colon, a Panama port near the entrance of the Panama Canal. It will be the largest and most efficient of its kind in the country, GIP said.
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The project will improve the reliability of power supply in Panama by diversifying its sources of energy, GIP said. The country's largest sources of electricity are hydropower dams and oil, followed by natural gas in third position.
The latest investment comes less than a month after GIP announced it would be acquiring a 25% stake in UK gas distributor Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) from Canada's OMERS. SNG provides gas to 6mn homes and businesses in southeast England and Scotland.