Thursday, November 5, 2009

ContourGlobal, Alice Albright, the Carlyle Group and Africa

Following up on my posting of Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin's speech at University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, PEU Report/State of the Division has done yeoman's work in digging deeper into what the power elite are up to in Africa.

Here's some of what he has discovered, most of which originally appeared as comments by PEU Report to my original post:

Alice Albright, formerly of the Carlyle Group & JP Morgan and daughter of Madeleine Albright, joined the Ex-Im Bank. Their October report is clearly focused on Africa. Here's their blurb:

EX-IM BANK WELCOMES ALICE ALBRIGHT

We welcome Alice Albright as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Ex-Im Bank. Because of her vast work experience in Africa, she has also been asked by Chairman Hochberg to lead Ex-Im Bank's SSA portfolio.

Alice Albright joins Ex-Im Bank with a 24-year career in international finance in the private and nonprofit sectors.

From 2001 to 2009, she served as the Chief Financial and Investment Officer for the GAVI Alliance, an international public-private partnership dedicated to improving childhood immunization rates in the poorest countries. During her tenure at GAVI, she worked on introducing innovative mechanisms to enhance how vaccines and immunization services are financed in the poorest countries.

Prior to joining GAVI, Ms. Albright worked as a banker with a focus on emerging markets and held positions at the Carlyle Group, JP Morgan, Bankers Trust Company and Citicorp.

Ms. Albright graduated from Williams College and received her MA from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Ms. Albright is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

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It doesn't say which American company is helping with the lake methane project, but World Bank President Bob Zoellick visited the area in August.

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From the World Bank on Rwanda:

1) The successful Kivu pilot has resulted in a Gas to Power Independent Power Producer agreement, which is expected to provide about 100MW for the foreseeable future.

It doesn't state who the independent power producer is. Another World Bank effort is characterized:

2) The project overall objective is to establish an enabling environment for private sector-led economic growth and poverty reduction in Rwanda. The project will focus on promoting a competitive climate by (a) streamlining the business environment; (b) reducing the costs and increasing the efficiency of telecommunications, water and
electricity utilities, and the tea industry; and (c) improving access to financial services and provide support services to local entrepreneurs.

That sheds light on Neil Wolin's visit.

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The World Bank report on Rwanda states:

"The successful Kivu pilot has resulted in a Gas to Power Independent Power Producer agreement, which is expected to provide about 100MW for the foreseeable future."

It doesn't give the Independent Power Producer's identity.

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ContourGlobal is the American Company doing the methane deal in Rwanda:

OPIC is supplying ContourGlobal with political risk insurance and financing for African power generation projects.

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ContourGlobal is owned by Reservoir Capital Group. Their political donor list is interesting:

$12,100 from 1 Reservoir Capital Group employee (3.6%) to Robert Casey

$4,600 from 2 Reservoir Capital Group employees (7.1%) to Christopher Dodd

$2,300 from 1 Reservoir Capital Group employee (3.6%) to John McCain

$2,300 from 1 Reservoir Capital Group employee (3.6%) to Mary Landrieu

$2,000 from 1 Reservoir Capital Group employee (3.6%) to Rahm Emanuel

$1,750 from 4 Reservoir Capital Group employees (14.3%) to Hillary Clinton

1 comment:

  1. Last night I found Neal's old firm, The Hartford had a big announcement about innovative insurance underwriting for public-private partnerships.

    Their press release coincided with Neal Wolin's African trip.

    http://ir.thehartford.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=419799

    ReplyDelete