Kibo backs out of Victoria Falls solar acquisition

Kibo Energy announced the termination of its intended acquisition of the Victoria Falls Solar Park project in Zimbabwe from Broomfield International on Friday, which it initially detailed on 21 March.

The AIM-traded firm said the findings of its due diligence were not completely to its satisfaction, with aspects of the project requiring further development work over a short period of time, and Broomfield not being able to provide certain material information on the project to Kibo's satisfaction.

It said the parties were not able to reach agreement on a counteroffer it presented to Broomfield, leading to the board to decide that it was in the company’s best interest to proceed.

Kibo said it would now focus its attention on its existing and new sustainable and renewable energy projects, most notably its waste-to-energy project in South Africa, which was progressing to financial close, and its new long duration energy storage project to deploy 1GW over a five-year term in partnership with CellCube.

Additionally, Kibo said it was in the process of examining the conversion of its existing energy projects in Tanzania, Botswana and Mozambique to clean or renewable energy projects.

“If transactions do not meet our information or returns requirements it is not appropriate to proceed,” said chief executive officer Louis Coetzee.

“This transaction, following our due diligence process which included satisfying the board on the documentation required for the regulatory re-admission and subsequent revised economics, ultimately did not meet our acquisition criteria.

“We have a robust and well developed renewables transition strategy with strong operational momentum, focussed on the accelerated development of our existing renewable and clean energy project portfolio.”

Coetzee said the firm had managed to “significantly advance” the development of its project portfolio in recent months, in pursuing its objective to achieve commercial renewable energy production in less than 18 months.

“We are making very good progress on our waste-to-energy project in South Africa after inking a 10-year power purchase agreement earlier this year, and we expect the project to reach financial close later this year.

“The addition of a potential 12MW waste-to-energy project in the UK, currently under investigation, will bolster the company's UK portfolio.

“We are also looking forward to driving our new partnership with CellCube to deliver 1GW of storage over the course of the five-year term.”

At 1042 BST, shares in Kibo Energy were down 4.36% at 0.15p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.