Cameroon's Electricity Development Corporation (EDC) has increased its share capital by 68.6%, from CFA15 billion to CFA25.289 billion, through the conversion of CFA10.289 billion in funds previously provided by the government. The transaction does not represent new state financing, as the money had already been transferred to the public company between 2008 and 2010, according to its earlier financial statements.
A legal notice published in Cameroon Tribune states that the capital increase was approved at an extraordinary general meeting through a debt-to-equity conversion. The application to update the company's registration was filed on October 7, 2026, with the registry of the Yaoundé-Centre Administratif Court of First Instance.
The origin of the funds is documented in Note 15A of EDC's 2022 financial statements. According to the document, the Ministry of Finance began providing the money when the company started operations in 2008, and the payments continued until 2010. Because the ministry had not specified the nature of the funding, EDC initially recorded the amounts as investment grants. The company's auditors subsequently flagged this classification. In 2021, EDC's board of directors adopted Resolution No. 167/CA/EDC/2021, which proposed converting the entire CFA10.289 billion into share capital. The board then sent a formal request to the Ministry of Finance for approval.
Authorization eventually came on May 16, 2024. In their report on the 2023 financial year, the auditors stated that they had received a copy of a letter from the Ministry of Finance requesting an extraordinary general meeting to determine the terms of the transaction. The plan called for the creation of 1,028,900 new shares, each with a nominal value of CFA10,000.
Capital Increase Already Reflected in the 2025 Accounts
The transaction had already appeared on EDC's balance sheet as of December 31, 2025, which the Directorate General of Budget published on June 30, 2026. The company's share capital stood at CFA25.289 billion, compared with CFA15 billion a year earlier.
A comparison of the financial statements, however, reveals an intermediate stage in the accounting treatment. At the end of 2023, the CFA10.289 billion was still classified as investment grants. In the comparative figures for 2024 published alongside the 2025 balance sheet, the investment grants account showed a zero balance, while share capital remained unchanged at CFA15 billion. The amount appeared under share capital only in 2025.
The October 2026 legal notice identifies the transaction as a debt-to-equity conversion. Earlier financial statements, however, show that the funds were initially recorded as investment grants. The publicly available financial documents do not explain how the company moved from one accounting classification to the other. This distinction matters when assessing the actual effect of the capital increase on EDC's finances. Converting funds that the government had already provided does not, by itself, bring additional cash into the company.
Yet EDC's 2025 cash flow statement records the CFA10.289 billion under a category labeled "capital increase through new contributions." The same statement shows a negative CFA10.289 billion under investment grants received in its comparative column for 2024. These entries need to be reconciled with the accounting records used to complete the conversion. EDC's cash position also shows why the distinction matters. At the end of 2025, the company's net cash stood at just CFA81.3 million, down from CFA736.6 million at the beginning of the year, according to the financial statements published by the Directorate General of Budget.
The 68.6% increase in share capital therefore did not come with an equivalent CFA10.289 billion cash injection. While the transaction increased EDC's recorded share capital, it did not provide the company with new liquidity.
Baudouin Enama