Investor 'lost' N$80m in halted Lüderitz project

The rejected foreign investor behind the proposed N$4-billion Lüderitz oil and gas supply base says his companies spent about N$80 million developing the project before Namport halted it.

Ghanaian businessman Jory Adu-Boahene, whose Alpha Offshore Solutions holds 49% of Alpha Nautical Offshore Logistics (ANOL), says the foreign partners financed the project alone from the outset. “Alpha Offshore Solutions and Alpha Nautical Services Limited have been the sole funders of ANOL and the project since its inception. To date, approximately US$5 million has been incurred in connection with the development and advancement of the project,” Adu-Boahene told Namibian Sun.

He said the money was spent on technical planning, logistics and staffing. “These costs include design and engineering expenses, financial consultancy and advisory fees, legal and professional fees, logistics expenses, and manpower and personnel costs incurred over the past four years,” Adu-Boahene said. According to Adu-Boahene, discussions surrounding the project began in 2022, with ANOL regularly updating the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (Nida) about its development work and capital commitments.

Namport rejected ANOL’s proposal after it concluded that the consortium had not demonstrated financial capacity, technical expertise, delivery capability and operational experience.

The port authority reopened the project to competition, inviting fresh expressions of interest on 12 August, with a closing date of 12 October. Namport is seeking a private developer to design, build, own, operate and eventually transfer the supply base under a concession of up to 25 years.

Cabinet approved Namport and Nida to jointly develop the project on 4 November 2025.

The planned facility is intended to expand Lüderitz's capacity to provide logistics, storage and other support services to Namibia's emerging offshore oil and gas industry.

US$1 share dispute - Local businessman Joseph Andreas’s Tulaing Financial Services and Heritage Oasis Group Investment, associated with Jason Kasuto, collectively represented the 51% Namibian interest in ANOL.

Adu-Boahene disputed Andreas’s share of 25.5% interest in ANOL. “We subsequently became aware of a purported transaction under which Tulaing Financial Services was alleged to have acquired a 25.5% interest in ANOL for US$1,” he said.

According to Adu-Boahene, the proposed transfer was prohibited under ANOL’s shareholders’ agreement, and was therefore invalid. “Our legal representatives issued correspondence to Mr Andreas and Tulaing advising them that the purported transfer was not permitted under the terms of the shareholders’ agreement and was therefore considered invalid and not binding upon ANOL or its existing shareholders,” he said.

He claimed that an attempt to register the transfer was rejected by the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa), after Kasuto alleged that his signature on the documents had been fraudulently obtained. “The attempted filing of the purported transfer was also rejected by Bipa following submissions made by Mr Kasuto, including his allegation that his signature appearing on the relevant documentation had been obtained fraudulently,” Adu-Boahene told this publication.

Adu-Boahene said Andreas contributed no money directly to ANOL or the Lüderitz project.

“Mr Andreas has not made any payment or financial contribution to ANOL or to the project,” he said. He added that any transaction between Andreas and Kasuto was undertaken without ANOL’s “knowledge, involvement or approval”.

No longer interested - Andreas told Namibian Sun last week that he possessed a share certificate signed by Kasuto – an interest he acquired in Kasuto’s Heritage investment company, rather than shares directly from ANOL.

“I have a share certificate signed by Jason Kasuto. I was acquiring shares in Kasuto’s company called Heritage Investment. Heritage, in turn, has 51% in ANOL Namibia,” he said. Both Andreas and Kasuto told Namibian Sun that they had walked away from the project and would not participate in Namport’s renewed bidding process. “I’m not interested in this project anymore,” Andreas said, dismissing suggestions that he had assembled new partners as “speculation”. Kasuto also expressed no interest in the project. “I have no interest in the project and therefore have had no discussions on the project and its details, nor am I or any entity I’m aware of going to be participating in any RFP,” he said.