wiredinUSA July 2020

First offshore project in Taiwan gets underway

Reprieve may pave the way to recovery

Image courtesy of LS Cable and System

East African Cables is to delay publication of its audited financial results for the year ended 31 st December 2019, pending discussions regarding its future. Company secretary Virginia Ndunge said: “The delay has been occasioned by ongoing discussions with the company’s lenders to complete the remaining portion of the debt restructure transaction.” East African Cables was granted a major reprieve when SBM Bank (Kenya) rescinded its liquidation plans and, instead, worked on a debt settlement and restructuring agreement. “The agreement involves a restructure of the outstanding facilities by the bank under a new long-term facility and security arrangement,” Ndunge said in a public notice. The withdrawal of the petition is a significant step towards a turnaround plan that will include strengthening of the balance sheet, operational improvements, and establishing a funding structure for growth and profitability. The company has a presence in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Southern Sudan and Ethiopia through its distribution network, and specializes in manufacturing cables for applications in domestic and industrial lighting, power transmission and distribution.

LS Cable and System has shipped its first batch of submarine cables for Taiwan’s offshore wind industry. This is the first shipment for a submarine cable project that LS C&S was awarded in 2019, to supply all the high voltage submarine cables for the first offshore wind farm in Taiwan. The consignment weighed 2,500 tons, equivalent to a total length of 70km. The cables were manufactured at the submarine cable plant in Donghae, Gangwon-do and were scheduled for installation off the coast of Yunlin Xian during June. Between 2020 and 2035, the Taiwanese government is planning to construct a total of 15GW offshore wind farms in three projects, increasing thecountry’s proportion of renewable energy from 5% to 50%. The Taiwanese government aims to use local resources for energy equipment and materials, but specialist submarine cables were excluded from localization targets.

wiredInUSA - July 2020

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