DRC Trends and Developments Contributed by: Serge Nawej, ProximA International
petitive bidding systems and transparent trad - ing tools for variable debt securities. His team, collaborating with ProximA, is actively exploring bond vehicles tailored to African infrastructure and municipal needs, aiming to offer liquidity, governance transparency and localised govern - ance covenants. Though not DRC-specific, Clar - ity BidRate’s model aligns with wider continen - tal trends towards standardised, market-based infrastructure financing. Africa Finance Corporation – pan-African hybrid bond leader In January 2025, the Africa Finance Corpora - tion (AFC) successfully issued a USD500 million perpetual hybrid bond, marked by 1.5x oversub - scription. Indexed to Africa-wide infrastructure projects – including the Lobito Corridor Rail – this transaction signals growing investor confi - dence in bonds structured to fund transforma - tive continental assets. Hybrid bonds, combining equity and debt features, provide flexibility while embedding governance and accountability mechanisms. Regional project bond agreements – West Africa as a case study Efforts in West Africa, such as the BRVM–Afri - ca50 project bond agreement, aim to channel regional capital towards infrastructure by ena - bling local and pension fund participation. These initiatives show how capital markets across Afri - can regional communities are evolving to sup - port large-scale, diversified projects. What this means for the DRC and future projects African bond models set continental bench - marks in infrastructure financing, with local con - tent, structured governance and sustainability covenants.
As the DRC scales major initiatives – such as the Lobito Corridor, Inga PPP, Banana Port, and national road programmes – it can tap into both Africa-wide bond vehicles and localised struc - tures for long-term funding. These bond instruments complement traditional PPPs, strengthen market liquidity and broaden investor participation – especially institutional players such as pension funds. The Rise and Implementation of Local Content Measures At the same time, several measures have been introduced in the DRC to protect and promote local economic players, notably through the fol - lowing. • The Subcontracting Law (Law No 17/001 of 8 February 2017 on subcontracting), which requires that 51% of the share capital of sub - contracting companies be held by Congolese nationals and that these companies have their registered office in the DRC. • Creation of the Regulatory Authority for Subcontracting in the Private Sector (ARSP), responsible for enforcing the law and increas - ingly active in mining projects and major public contracts. • The Digital Code (Law No 22/200 of 3 November 2022), which establishes strict obligations regarding digital sovereignty, including: (a) mandatory local storage of sensitive data; (b) use of Congolese digital service providers for public or nationally significant pro - jects; and (c) localisation of digital infrastructure within national territory; • Amendments to the 2018 Mining Code, reinforcing the State’s participation (royalties, 10% free carry) as well as local participation
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