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IFC committed a $70 million package consisting of a $50 million equity investment and a $20.4 million sustainability-linked loan, extending the 19-year relationship into the sixth transaction.
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The financing supports a $577 million expansion plan that includes submarine cables, data centers in Nigeria, South Africa and the DRC, and a new fiber-to-the-home wholesale model.
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The earnings came just weeks after OADC acquired seven NTT data centers in South Africa, suggesting IFC is handling consolidation rather than greenfield rollouts.
On May 14, 2026, IFC delivered a financing package for WIOCC, a pan-African digital infrastructure operator. The headline ticket is modest – a sustainability-linked loan of the equivalent of $20.4 million, structured as a US$10 million tranche to WIOC Mauritius and a rand-valued tranche of approximately $10.4 million, equivalent to data center real estate subsidiary OADC PropCo South Africa – but the strategic gesture is big. The loan is part of a broader package, internally referred to as the WIOCC VI Loan (Project No. 51154), which also includes an equity investment of up to $50 million. The transaction was approved by IFC's board on December 5, 2025 and signed on December 10, 2025. Proparco, the private sector arm of the French Agence Française de Développement, and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund are listed as co-investors. The total project cost is $577 million, financed through equity, $65 million of new debt and internal cash generation supported by signed customer contracts.
The proceeds will finance four workstreams: harnessing capacity from existing submarine cables including EQUINO, EASSY, 2Africa West and 2Africa Gera; Expansion of data center infrastructure, particularly through a new block at the Lagos (Lekki) facility and expansion of the Durban site; Growing new fibre-to-the-home/business business through Open Access Metro Services, established in 2024 as a dedicated subsidiary; and investment in terrestrial fibre.
A unique position in an integrated market
According to Next Move Strategy Consulting, the African data center market is projected to grow from $8.43 billion in 2025 to $12.40 billion by 2030, and the competitive landscape is reshaping accordingly. Since acquiring MainOne for $320 million in 2022, Equinix has committed up to $390 million to African expansion, including a $22 million Lagos data center (LG3) scheduled for early 2026 and a new Port Harcourt facility (PR1), intended to be the first 2Africa cable landing station outside Lagos. Liquid Intelligent Technologies operates the largest private terrestrial fiber network on the continent, spanning over 110,000 kilometres. Africa Data Center, a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies, is expanding into more than ten countries with the support of the US International Development Finance Corporation.
Within this landscape, WIOCC holds a unique position: it is the only operator integrating sub-sea capacity, metro fiber and data centers in South Africa, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while majority ownership is held by a coalition of African telecommunications operators and the African Capital Alliance, a Nigerian private equity fund. IFC has a 10 percent equity stake acquired through the WIOCC III round in 2022, and the new transaction includes a loan facility as well as $50 million of fresh equity.
The initial premise is smaller than the ambition. WIOCC currently operates six data centers in South Africa, Nigeria and DRC with a combined installed capacity of 5.6 MW, while 24 MW is planned in Lagos alone and a further 25 MW of capacity brought in by the NTT acquisition.
By financing WIOCC at every level of the stack – equity in the holding company from 2022, US-dollar debt for the Mauritius operating unit, additional equity in the current round, and now a rand-denominated loan for the South African asset vehicle – IFC is positioning one of the few remaining truly independent pan-African operators as a European and multilateral DeFi champion against a US-dominated competing set. For African operators, ISPs and enterprises, the result is tangible: more wholesale capacity, denser interconnections and a reliable alternative to Equinix or Liquid Intelligent Technologies on key metro routes.
In particular, the Environmental and Social Review Summary requires WIOCC to incorporate IFC performance standards as well as the AFD Group Exclusion List when selecting new development sites, indicating tight coordination between European and multilateral lenders.
More of a defensive loan rather than a full growth capital investment
The timing of the loan is the most revealing element of the document. On December 31, 2025, a few weeks after IFC Board approval, OADC closed the acquisition of seven NTT Data centers in South Africa, adding more than 25 MW of capacity through a sale and leaseback arrangement, under which NTT Data South Africa remains the primary client interface. The rand tranche of the IFC loan flows to OADC PropCo South Africa, which holds the property assets. The sequence suggests that IFC is at least partially refinancing or supporting this acquisition, thereby securing exposure to data center assets that are already operational, leased and revenue generating, rather than a greenfield risk profile emphasizing project details.
It is a defensive debt currency designed as a growth investment. It also confirms that OADC's strategy has shifted from greenfield construction to acquisition-led consolidation, bypassing the multi-year delays associated with new construction in markets where Eskom's power constraints and municipal approvals have become hurdles.
The sustainability framework is supported by a twelve-point environmental and social action plan that focuses on governance, management systems and procedural upgrades rather than broadly set climate performance targets. The plan requires WIOCC to update its environmental and social management system, conduct a strategic environmental and social assessment for its FTTx business, refresh its climate risk and vulnerability assessment, strengthen its complaint mechanisms and vendor selection processes, and develop a formal e-waste management plan. The ESRS does not disclose quantitative sustainability performance targets such as PUE thresholds or renewable energy share, leaving the exact calibration of the pricing shaft unknown.
The energy disclosures in the ESRS provide a useful benchmark. WIOCC Group consumed 1,079,661 liters of diesel and 1,644,249 kWh of grid electricity in 2024, while only 0.3 MW of solar photovoltaic capacity was installed across its data centers in Durban, Kinshasa and Lagos. These figures do not extend to the carbon intensity of grid electricity sourcing, which remains the major emissions driver for African data centers dependent on coal-heavy networks like Eskom.
outlook
OADC Chief Executive Ayotunde Coker described the NTT acquisition as transformational, saying it strengthens the company's market value proposition and positions OADC as a key partner in the development of Africa's digital economy. Joshua Smithwood, WIOCC Group chief strategist and M&A officer, framed the same transaction within a broader pan-African digital infrastructure strategy of expanding data center and connectivity businesses.
Regarding the planned $240 million Lagos hyperscale facility, announced in March 2025, Coker told local press that the project will be funded through a mix of equity and debt with financial institutions including the IFC, and given the limited solar generation capacity at the site, renewable energy integration through power wheeling arrangements will remain a main focus. The first 12 MW of OADC's Lagos hyperscale facility is expected within 18 months of its March 2025 announcement, while OAfabric, the interconnection platform launched in Nigeria and the DRC, is set to expand into additional African markets.
The next test for WIOCC will be whether its open-access positioning and pan-African shareholder base can protect market share against Equinix's deep pockets and Liquid's continental fiber footprint, especially in Lagos and Johannesburg, where competition for hyperscaler workloads is now the defined battleground.
Idris Linge