Cairo, 29 December 2020 – African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announces the closing of a US$1 billion facility for the Bank of Industry, Nigeria’s state-owned development bank. The Facility provides much needed support to Nigerian businesses across key sectors and is the largest international syndicated loan to a Nigerian financial institution since the onset of the pandemic-induced economic difficulties.
The transaction was jointly arranged with Credit Suisse and involved a syndicate of 27 investors.
Afreximbank, along with Credit Suisse, acted as Joint Coordinating Mandated Lead Arrangers (MLAs), Underwriters and Bookrunners. Afreximbank was the Facility Agent and Security Trustee. The Africa Finance Corporation, Rand Merchant Bank, SMBC, and the Export Import Bank of China also joined the deal as Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners.
This transaction follows a previous EUR 1 billion syndicated facility for Bank of Industry, which closed in March 2020.
Given the current adverse market conditions, the transaction constitutes a significant achievement for the parties involved. Importantly, the deal demonstrates the capacity of financial institutions to continue their vital activities during the pandemic and their positive attitude to African risks. The US$750mn underwriting provided by Afreximbank and Credit Suisse, which provided the Bank of Industry with certainty of funds, distinguishes this transaction as amongst the few debt financings to be underwritten since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said:
“Afreximbank is pleased to have once again worked with its partners to facilitate access to international finance at a time it is most needed. The Bank of Industry is a pivotal development finance institution in Nigeria under able leadership. We are proud to have been given the opportunity once again”.
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About Afreximbank: The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution with the mandate of financing and promoting intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank was established in October 1993 and owned by African governments, the African Development Bank and other African multilateral financial institutions as well as African and non-African public and private investors. The Bank was established under two constitutive documents, an Agreement signed by member states, which confers on the Bank the status of an international organization, and a Charter signed by all Shareholders, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that are supporting the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby sustaining economic expansion in Africa. At the end of September 2020, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at USD$20.28 billion and its shareholders funds amounted to US$3.13 billion. Voted “African Bank of the Year” in 2019, the Bank disbursed more than US$38billion between 2016 and 2020. Afreximbank has ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A-), Moody’s (Baa1) and Fitch (BBB-). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com.
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Media Contact: Amadou Labba Sall, asall@afreximbank.com