UAE billionaire Sheikh Tahnoon-linked Azura Power buys South African energy trader

Azura Power, the African power producer that a company in Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan's business network agreed to buy in August, has acquired a significant majority stake in South African electricity trader Enpower Trading, its first investment in the country.

The deal, completed on Sept. 30, gives Azura a way into South Africa's electricity market as the country opens power generation and trading to more private companies. Neither side disclosed the price or the exact size of the stake.

Enpower holds a private electricity trading licence in South Africa, along with licences to import and export power, and has conditional market participant status in the Southern African Power Pool. When it received its trading licence, it became only the second private electricity trader in South Africa and the first to be licensed in more than 12 years.

The company was set up to give independent power producers a route to market and to let commercial and industrial customers choose where they buy their electricity. Azura said Enpower will become its electricity trading platform in South Africa and a base for further expansion there. Enpower's founders and management will keep meaningful stakes in the business.

"We have significant long-term ambitions for South Africa. We see tremendous opportunity in the country's evolving power sector and hope that this will be the first of several investments we make here in the years ahead," said Dave Peacock, Azura's chief executive. He said the company would keep looking for more opportunities across South Africa's power sector.

James Beatty, Enpower's co-founder and chief executive, said the company was built on the expectation that South Africa's electricity market would open to more competition. "Azura brings the capital, operating experience and pan-African platform to scale what our team has built," he said.

Azura's African footprint

The deal takes Azura beyond the power plants it runs in Nigeria, Senegal and Mozambique, and moves it from generating electricity into trading it.

Azura operates 752 megawatts of generating capacity across the three countries. Its portfolio includes the 461-megawatt Azura-Edo plant in Nigeria, the 116-megawatt Tobene plant in Senegal and the 175-megawatt Central Térmica de Ressano Garcia plant in Mozambique. It also has more than 1.5 gigawatts of projects in development across Africa, including gas, renewable energy and battery storage.

The Abu Dhabi connection

The Enpower deal comes a month after Abu Dhabi's ePointZero agreed to buy 90% of Azura Power Holdings, as Billionaires.Africa reported. ePointZero will buy out the stakes held by investors Actis and Africa50 through a vehicle set up with Amaya Capital, Azura's founding partner, which is led by Nigerian billionaire Phillip Ihenacho. Amaya will keep the remaining 10%. The acquisition still needs regulatory approvals and must meet other closing conditions.

ePointZero is a subsidiary of 2PointZero, which sits within International Holding Co., the Abu Dhabi conglomerate chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon, the UAE's national security adviser and brother of President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. Tahnoon's Royal Group owned about 61% of International Holding Co. when 2PointZero was set up in 2024.

The Azura purchase gives Tahnoon's investment network a portfolio of power plants in several of Africa's largest markets. Enpower adds an electricity trading business in South Africa, the continent's most industrialized economy.