Scottish Africa Business Association Embarks on Pioneering Trade Mission to Kenya
One of our key sectors of focus will be around exploring opportunities in both traditional and innovative energy solutions; our delegates will hear about how they can help enhance energy security and efficiency through strategic partnerships and technological advancements. As Kenya leads East Africa in renewable energy production, Scottish companies specialising in wind, solar, geothermal and tidal energy will have the chance to find out more about the opportunities in country.
Building on the strong educational links between Scotland and Africa, the delegation will explore opportunities around vocational training, skills development, and university partnerships to empower the next generation.
With Kenya's extensive coastline and rich marine resources, the maritime and blue economy sectors offer vast potential. Our mission will explore sustainable practices in aquaculture, fisheries, marine transport and port logistics and infrastructure to boost economic growth while preserving marine ecosystems.
Seona Shand, Chief Operating Officer at SABA, said: 'SABA'S trade mission to Kenya will feature a comprehensive and engaging programme designed to maximise the benefits for our participants. We'll be hosting B2B meetings, round tables, site visits, networking and receptions providing supreme opportunities for them to win new business.'
Scottish businesses should be interested in the Kenyan market – one of Africa's fastest growing economies with a diverse and resilient economic base, as the largest economy in East Africa it serves as a gateway to a regional market of over 450 million people.
The country is a leader in renewable energy, with over 90% of its electricity coming from renewable sources such as geothermal, wind and solar power. In addition, its growing youth population places high demand on quality education and skills development. With Scotland's globally respected higher education institutions and training providers, opportunities are abundant for leveraging talent in a pool primed for innovation.
Frazer Lang, Chief Executive at SABA, added: 'We are pleased to be organising this trade mission to Kenya, a country with immense potential and a shared vision for sustainable growth. This mission represents a significant step towards strengthening our economic ties and exploring new avenues for collaboration. Scottish businesses can not only drive their international growth but contribute to transformative changes in one of Africa's most vibrant markets. Our thanks go to the Scottish Government for supporting SABA to help Scottish businesses in this market.'
Any Kenyan businesses interested in meeting with the Scottish delegation from the aforementioned sectors are encouraged to get directly in touch with the team from SABA, along with those interested in sponsoring or partnering with SABA.
For more information, click here (https://apo-opa.co/3X7L9qC).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Scottish Africa Business Association (SABA).
For more information, please contact:
Frazer Lang
Chief Executive
Scottish Africa Business Association
E: frazer.lang@africascot.com
Seona Shand
Chief Operating Officer
Scottish Africa Business Association
E: seona.shand@africascot.com
About the Scottish Africa Business Association (SABA):
SABA is the preeminent non-political, Africa focussed, members trade organisation with an unrivalled board of experienced directors which promotes trade, investment and knowledge sharing between Scotland's world class expertise and Africa's priority sectors including energy, agriculture, the blue economy, healthcare, skills training and education by leveraging extensive commercial, trade, political and government contacts across Scotland and Africa.
As part of this, our team organises private meetings, round tables, seminars, conferences, global trade missions and offers market research, intelligence sharing and consultancy services.
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Zawya
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Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC - Masdar assigned 'AA-' issuer credit rating; Outlook stable
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We also recognize that the company's strong investment appetite creates inherent execution risk in business expansion and its financial leverage is very high. We therefore assigned our 'AA-' long-term issuer credit rating on Masdar. The outlook is stable, reflecting the outlook on our sovereign rating on Abu Dhabi. Rating Action Rationale We think that Masdar has an extremely high likelihood of receiving timely and sufficient financial support from the government of Abu Dhabi. The group has the very important role of leading the emirate's renewable goals, and it benefits from having integral ties with the state government. This results in six notches of uplift from Masdar's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) of 'bbb-', leading to an 'AA-' long-term issuer credit rating. Masdar retains priority on the mandate for renewable energy for Abu Dhabi, being a key vehicle for the United Arab Emirate (UAE) in achieving its goals of tripling renewable energy by 2030. The UAE government has pledged to make the country carbon neutral by 2050 and plans to invest heavily in alternative energy sources that are both renewable and clean (see "Abu Dhabi," May 26, 2025). Masdar also plays a key role as a vehicle for strengthening ties with partner countries through the development of non-utility scale special projects. There is ample evidence and a solid track record of state support to accompany Masdar's growth. The group has thus far received over UAE dirham (AED) 20 billion in equity support from the government to finance its acquisitions on growing platforms. We think that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is willing and able to provide extraordinary financial support should Masdar experience financial stress, particularly because Masdar's reputation globally is closely linked to that of its ultimate owner. Chart 1 Over AED20 billion in equity support to finance acquisitions on growing platforms Acquisitions help enhance portfolio quality and provide diversification benefits Masdar's strategy of acting as a platform investor and aggregator has significantly expanded its scale and diversity. From 2021 to March 2025, Masdar's gross capacity (considering operational, under construction, and committed projects) increased to 33 gigawatt (GW) from 15 GW. This trajectory was backed by a dual business model that combines greenfield development with strategic acquisitions--each supported by appropriate funding sources. The company has a portfolio of geographically diverse assets in strategic locations across the globe and exposed to well-proven renewable technologies, notably utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind capacity, which together account for more than 80% of Masdar's generation base. Different from its rated peers, Masdar does not carry operations in-house, but rather adopts an investor approach, outsourcing operating and construction risk to third-party contractors. Masdar's competitive advantages stem from both: Hard factors: A large, low risk asset base of its cash flow generation with 97% of revenues being generated through take-or-pay contracts with a weighted average remaining contract life of about 16 years; and Soft factors like government backing and a clear strategic mandate Although Masdar's investment appetite is aggressive, the regular equity injections from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to finance brownfield acquisitions support the sustainability of the growth strategy and underpin Masdar's sound access to capital markets and good relationships with banks. As of March 2025, Masdar has an identified advanced pipeline of 25 GW, and a long way to reach its target of over 100 GW by 2030. In addition, 15 GW out of its contracted pipeline is under development. Therefore, we cannot rule out some execution risks and high capital expenditure (capex) in its path toward its 2030 target. That said, we think that the government will step in to support Masdar because its activities have strong strategical and reputational significance for the emirate. The continuous support and the privileged access to low-cost financial resources thanks to its government links are a major differentiating factor when assessing the group's financial solidity and capacity to sustain high leverage. Despite Masdar's heightened leverage, the company--which is a pioneer in green bond financing in the UAE--managed to raise about AED10 billion so far in 2025, with a low coupon rate of about 5%. Masdar's strong diversification, government-backed growth model, and hands-off approach to distressed assets all support the deconsolidated financial analysis approach. Unlike many of its peers, Masdar's business model ensures that its financial risk profile is not tied to individual projects or their associated debt. The company's expansion is driven by government capital injections and strategic acquisitions, rather than asset monetization, further limiting its reliance on project-level cash flows. In our assessment of Masdar, we deconsolidate all nonrecourse asset-level debt and cash flows and included the dividend distributions from these projects to calculate its financial metrics. The deconsolidation is not merely because of the nonrecourse nature of the assets, but because we believe Masdar's approach to individual projects in the context of its large portfolio, in terms of business strategy, governance and influence, allows us to do so. We estimate Masdar's leverage (i.e., mostly corporate debt at the parent level) will remain high over the next two years. Masdar's deconsolidated debt-to-EBITDA is likely to increase to 5.0x-6.0x over 2025 and 2026, from 1.8x in 2024, before falling to 2024 levels as all the development activity Masdar has undertaken over the past year--particularly through the acquisitions of growth platforms--become operational and begin generating cash. Masdar's growth mandate is implemented through its disciplined and consistent acquisition strategy and framework which helps provide visibility around the evolution of cash flows. We acknowledge that, within the development cycle, Masdar's leverage ratio would also by cyclical. However, we view the company's track record of disciplined framework when it comes to its financial policy as positive. We would expect Masdar to hold majority ownership and control of its projects to maximize dividend payouts, while ensuring the deconsolidated EBITDA cash interest coverage is close to 2.0x. We would also expect the company to continue with its funding approach whereby greenfield developments are financed with nonrecourse debt at the project level with Masdar's equity being funded via green bonds at the parent level, whereas brownfield acquisitions would remain financed primarily via equity-like shareholder contributions. Equally critical for us is the expectation that Masdar would not support any distressed projects, as has been the case in the past Outlook The stable outlook on Masdar mirrors that on the sovereign rating on the Abu Dhabi (AA/Stable/A-1+), given our view that the company has an extremely high likelihood of receiving timely and sufficient financial support from the Emirate, its ultimate owner. The outlook also reflects our expectation that Masdar will continue to enjoy good funding access as a key government-related entity (GRE) in Abu Dhabi and that the emirate will support Masdar with regular equity injections for brownfield projects to reach the 100 GW target. We also expect that Masdar will maintain stable cash flows and efficient operations at the project-level, which will also support the company's leverage and growth spending over the next 12-24 months. Downside scenario We may lower the rating on Masdar in the next 12-24 months if: We lower the sovereign rating on Abu Dhabi to 'AA-'; We think that government support for the company has weakened. This could happen if Masdar becomes less strategic and integrated with the government. A shortfall or delay in supporting strategic acquisitions, or liquidity pressure on Masdar may also signal weakening of support; or At the current level of government support, the SACP on Masdar weakens by two notches to 'bb'. 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Rating Component Scores Ratings List Certain terms used in this report, particularly certain adjectives used to express our view on rating relevant factors, have specific meanings ascribed to them in our criteria, and should therefore be read in conjunction with such criteria. Please see Ratings Criteria at for further information. A description of each ofS&PGlobal Ratings' ratingcategories is contained in"S&PGlobal Ratings Definitions"at Complete ratings information is available to RatingsDirect subscribers at All ratings referenced herein can be found onS&PGlobal Ratings'public website at Copyright © 2025 by Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC. All rights reserved. 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Khaleej Times
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UAE: S&P assigns AA- rating to Masdar, outlook stable
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Zawya
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Egypt plans new submarine power cable to Jordan: report
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