Thelo to raise $250m with eye on Africa’s giant rail corridors

Thelo Group’s management plans to buy Deutsche Bahn’s 49% shareholding and is in talks with financiers to raise $250-million to help the South African company transform into a developer of rail lines and ports in sub-Saharan Africa. The capital will be used “to expand our capacity quite aggressively,” fund “project preparation on some of the projects that we’ve already secured” and inject equity into them, Thelo’s chairperson Ronnie Ntuli said in an interview, adding that the company may ultimately seek to list on a stock exchange. Talks are being held with African financiers, including development finance institutions, as well as international investors over both debt and equity investment, he said.