Madagascar billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee's Axian Energy secures $60 million loan from MCB to expand renewable energy across Africa

Axian Energy, the renewable energy subsidiary of Hassanein Hiridjee's Axian Group, has received a $60 million loan from MCB Group, the Mauritius-based financial services conglomerate, to fund the expansion of its renewable energy business across Africa, deepening Axian's presence in one of the continent's fastest-growing clean energy segments.

The financing deal was confirmed by Renewables Now on June 27, 2026. MCB Group's participation as lender reflects a growing trend of Mauritius-based financial institutions financing regional African energy infrastructure, leveraging the island nation's position as a financial gateway between international capital markets and African project developers. MCB Group is listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius and is the island's largest financial institution by total assets, with a pan-African lending portfolio that has expanded significantly over the past decade as the bank has targeted infrastructure and renewable energy as priority sectors.

Axian Energy operates across the renewable energy value chain in Africa, with solar power, battery storage and energy efficiency projects in multiple markets including Madagascar, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Senegal. The company was established as a dedicated clean energy arm of the Axian Group to consolidate the conglomerate's growing portfolio of power projects across the continent, separating the energy business from Axian's telecommunications and real estate operations and giving it a distinct governance and funding structure. The $60 million MCB facility will allow Axian Energy to accelerate project development across its existing markets and potentially enter new geographies where the energy access deficit remains acute.

Hiridjee built the Axian Group from its origins in Madagascar into one of the Indian Ocean region's most diversified conglomerates, with operations spanning telecommunications, energy, real estate and financial services across more than a dozen African and Indian Ocean countries. Axian Telecom, the group's telecommunications arm, is the dominant mobile operator in Madagascar through its Telma brand and operates significant telecom businesses in Tanzania, Togo and Reunion Island. The group's Madagascar operations alone make Hiridjee one of the most economically significant private sector figures in the country, and his expansion across East and West Africa has progressively elevated the Axian Group's profile from a regional Indian Ocean business to a genuinely pan-African conglomerate.

The renewable energy financing comes at a moment of accelerating investment in African clean energy. The continent's energy access deficit remains severe, with more than 600 million Africans lacking reliable electricity access according to the International Energy Agency, and the economics of solar power in particular have improved dramatically as panel costs have continued to fall. For Axian Energy, the MCB facility provides the balance sheet support to pursue projects that have long development timelines and require patient capital committed ahead of revenue generation.

Axian Group is headquartered in Mauritius, where the Hiridjee family and the broader group have deep institutional roots. The MCB facility, denominated in dollars, provides currency-matched financing for a business whose revenue is primarily generated in dollar-linked or hard currency power purchase agreements, reducing the foreign exchange risk that has historically complicated African project finance transactions denominated in local currencies.