The NamPower Board of directors has approved the pre-qualification of 7 consortia as potential Mandated Lead Arrangers (MLA) for the Kudu Power Project. The successful bidder will be selected among that group, NamPower said this week. The chosen institutions in the end will raise financing for the Kudu Power Project on behalf of NamPower. Nine tender bids were initially received, the company said in a statement. Three were individual bids, primarily from international banks and the remaining 6 were consortia consisting of 17 financial institutions from the SADC Region with strong presence from local partners. Among the bidders, CitiGroup, N.A. (London Branch), ABN-AMRO from the Netherlands through its South African branch and Société Générale from France, submitted individual bids. As for consortiums, ABSA teamed up with Barclays Bank and Bank Windhoek whereas the NedBank Group consisting of its South African and Namibian branches teamed up with Old Mutual SA and Namibia, Calyon as well as the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Deutsche Bank teamed up with RMB, FNB of Namibia, Simoni Storms Securities (SSS) and the local brokerage company Irvin Johnson Green (IJG).

"We urge local and regional institutions to directly contact any of the pre-qualified institutions for specific information regarding possible business links", NamPower requested. The involvement of local and regional companies would ensure that a substantial part of the services provided would be sourced from local and regional suppliers.

Illegal activities at one of Namdeb’s remote mines, the pocket beaches, led to the arrest of senior company officials at the Mine near Oranjemund, Namdeb announced this week. Following an intensive investigation, based on information that illegal diamond activities were underway at the beaches, Namdeb’s security officials commenced with an investigation into the matter. As these investigations proceeded, the matter was brought to the Nampol protected resources and they arrested members of the pocket beaches’ management team on allegations of involvement in illegal diamond trafficking activities. Five Namdeb employees have been arrested to date, including two senior members of the management team, Namdeb admitted. "A sixth employee who appears to have deserted his position with the company is being sought for questioning in connection with the matter", the diamond company noted. Due to the sensitive stage of the investigation, the Company is unable to provide any names or details of the arrest and recovered diamonds. The employees involved have all been placed on suspension, pending further investigation, as well as court appearances.