Correspondent|GEMCORP Capital, the United Kingdom-headquartered investment management firm which last month ex­tended a $250 million credit line to Zimbabwe to facilitate the impor­tation of essentials such as fuel and medicine, now eyes Zimbabwe’s lucrative fuel sector.

This has raised discomfort in some quarters, with market watchers expressing fears that the $250m loan given to Zimbabwe came with strings attached, which strings Gemcorp was now possibly pulling.

“Without loans from global lenders, Zimbabwe has struggled to attract credit lines and external investment required to reboot its economy. The Zimbabwean government is effectively in desperate mode and under pressure from the citizenry to deliver, hence they end up falling for loan deals that come with strings. This looks to be the case here,” an investment analyst with a commercial bank said.

Zimbabwe’s backlog for foreign payments is more than $600 million, according to the central bank.

In May this year, Britain’s development finance institution CDC became the first British company to extend a direct commercial loan to Zimbabwe in more than two decades, making made available a $100 million facility to private firms through Standard Chartered Bank.

Gemcorp officials recently met with Energy and Power Development Minister Joram Gumbo in Bulawayo on the sidelines of the Parliamentary 2019 pre- budget conference.

Gumbo said that following on their meeting with President Mnan­gagwa last week, Gemcorp had ex­pressed interest in the energy sector inclusive of fuel, hydro-power and solar biogas.

Gemcorp last month also ex­tended a $250 million credit line to Zimbabwe to facilitate the impor­tation of essentials such as fuel and medicine.

“Following up on their meeting with President Mnangagwa, I have held discussions with Gemcorp of­ficials after they expressed interest in the energy sector. We have ex­changed information and brochures. This is all part of the Zimbabwe is Open for Business Agenda,” Gumbo said.

Gemcorp was formed in 2014 by Atanas Bostandjev, a former ex­ecutive of Russian investment bank VTB Capital, part of banking group VTB. The firm now employs more than 100 professionals working in London, Geneva, Africa and Russia and has offices in Brazil, Angola and South Africa.

Bostandjiev is a former partner at Goldman Sachs and also a former executive of VTB, the Russian investment bank that Zimbabwe has previously courted for financial support. Earlier this year, Gemcorp was part of a deal to raise $116million for Africell, the West African telecoms provider. Gemcorp also recently secured a $150million for power expansion in Angola.