Expanding solar energy access across Sub-Saharan Africa

Discover how we mobilised private capital for African Frontier Capital to expand solar energy access across Sub-Saharan Africa.

23 June 2026

3 mins

Corporate & investment bankingGlobal bankingSustainable and transition finance

Standard Chartered acted as Sole Placement Agent, Settlement Agent and Sustainability Structurer on a USD50 million Senior Unsecured Green Bond Private Placement for African Frontier Capital (AFC), supported by a full and unconditional financial guarantee from the Green Guarantee Company (GGC), a BBB (Fitch) rated development finance institution.

The transaction also benefitted from technical assistance support from the Global Green Growth Institute and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s MOBILIST programme.

Key parties:

• African Frontier Capital (AFC) – social impact investment company providing financing to support sustainable development across Africa
• Green Guarantee Company (GGC) – climate-focused guarantor providing a full and unconditional financial guarantee to support access to capital markets
• d.light – provider of solar home systems across Sub-Saharan Africa, supporting access to affordable and reliable energy for households in underserved and rural communities

Financing clean energy access at scale

Through this transaction, African Frontier Capital provides financing to support the rollout of solar home systems by d.light across Sub-Saharan Africa, expanding access to affordable, reliable and clean energy for households in underserved and rural communities.

The transaction is expected to support expanded access to clean energy for around 4.3 million people.

The bond has a maturity of four years and is to be listed on the International Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange. A group of UK and US institutional investors participated in the bond. The bond has been assigned a rating of BBB by Fitch.

By combining a green bond private placement with a financial guarantee, we are supporting the expansion of distributed solar energy and helping improve access to clean power across Sub‑Saharan Africa.

Rob Mason

Senior Originator, Debt Capital Markets Africa, Standard Chartered

Why this matters

This transaction demonstrates how bond private placements can provide issuers with access to longer-term institutional capital, supplementing more traditional financing channels.

These structures allow issuers to diversify funding beyond bank and development finance institutions, access global investor pools, and build a track record ahead of future public bond issuance.

The inclusion of a financial guarantee from investment grade rated GGC supports execution by reducing risk and broadening the investor base, helping companies operating in emerging markets to access capital markets and scale their business models.

We believe this transaction establishes an important blueprint for future capital markets financing in the sector and are proud to have partnered with GGC on one of its inaugural transactions.

Eric De Moudt

CEO, African Frontier Capital

We are grateful to our partners for bringing these impactful deals to market and laying the groundwork for many more transformative transactions as we continue scaling our impact and mobilising capital where it is needed most.

Lasitha Perera

Chief Executive Officer, Development Guarantee Group

Standard Chartered has an important role to play in supporting our clients, sectors and markets to deliver net zero, but to do so in a manner that supports livelihoods and promotes sustainable economic growth. We currently provide financial services to clients, sectors and markets that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions however we’re committed to net zero in our own operations by 2025 and in our financed emissions by 2050.

Learn more about our approach.