Bedell Cristin Jersey Partnership, working with the New York and London offices of Hogan Lovells, has advised the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) in expanding the receivable financing facility of Brighter Life Kenya 1 (BLK1).
BLK1 is an off-balance sheet financing vehicle dedicated to acquiring pay-as-you-go Solar Home System accounts receivables from solar energy product developer d.light.
Norfund’s $15m participation in the senior loan financing helped increase the financing facility to $127m, and joins Norfund with the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) as a co-senior lender in the structure.
Bedell Cristin advised DFC when it acted as the original cornerstone senior lender for BLK1 with a $20m financing in June 2020.
As a social impact venture, the newly expanded BLK1 is expected to help finance improved energy access and financial inclusion to 1.9 million people living off-grid in Kenya, the creation of $88m of additional income for the Kenyan economy and save more than 600,000 tons of greenhouse gases.
The Bedell Cristin Jersey team who advised on the deal was led by Partner Alasdair Hunter and included Senior Associate Malcolm Ellis.