African Fibre Operator Draws Heavy Demand in $660 Million Funding Round

Mintesinot Nigussie

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has raised 660 million US dollars in a combined financing package that attracted strong investor demand, highlighting continued international appetite for Africa’s digital infrastructure assets. The transaction included a 300 million US dollar Eurobond listed on Euronext Dublin, which was oversubscribed 2.5 times, alongside syndicated term loans in US dollars and South African rand.

Proceeds were used to refinance existing debt, extend maturities and strengthen the company’s balance sheet. Liquid operates one of Africa’s largest independent fibre networks, spanning more than 110,000 kilometres across over 20 countries.

The company provides wholesale connectivity, enterprise cloud services and cybersecurity solutions, and has positioned itself as a core infrastructure provider for the continent’s expanding digital economy. Investor participation in the latest deal included development finance institutions as anchor buyers in the Eurobond, alongside global institutional investors.

The financing package also included a 210 million US dollar syndicated rand-linked term loan arranged by lenders including Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank, Standard Bank and the International Finance Corporation. A further 150 million US dollar term loan, arranged by Ninety One, the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund and The Mauritius Commercial Bank, complemented the structure, alongside a 195 million US dollar equity injection from Cassava Technologies.

Credit rating agencies moved ahead of the transaction, with Fitch upgrading the company and Moody’s placing it on review for upgrade, reflecting improving financial metrics and capital structure strength.

Hardy Pemhiwa, group chief executive, said the refinancing strengthens the company’s platform to expand fibre connectivity, cloud services, cybersecurity and emerging artificial intelligence infrastructure across Africa.

Overall, the heavy demand for Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ $660 million funding round underscores strong investor confidence in African digital infrastructure and the company’s strategic role in expanding connectivity across the continent.