Cairo, 19 October 2020: The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the pan-African multilateral EXIM bank, has been ranked sub-Saharan Africa’s number 1 mandated lead arranger in Bloomberg’s Q3 2020 Capital Markets League Tables for Africa Borrower Loans.
Afreximbank’s leading position for Mandated Lead Arranger services reflects its decisive response to the economic impacts of COVID-19. The pandemic-associated financial crisis has caused a sudden retraction of capital from the continent, requiring Afreximbank to fully leverage its expertise in partnership building. The Bank has augmented the impact of its interventions through syndicated loans that have effectively combined its development capital with that of its partners. The recognition from Bloomberg comes after the Bank finished last year as the region’s #2 MLA and #2 Bookrunner in the 2019 Africa Borrower Loans League Table.
Through its Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) and other initiatives, Afreximbank has helped its members states adjust to the financial, economic and health service shocks caused by COVID-19. Using emergency trade finance facilities, the Bank has supported urgent imports needed for African countries to combat the virus and protect their populations. The Bank has also helped financial institutions and central banks meet trade debt payments and avert defaults.
In addition, Afreximbank’s pivotal role in facilitating intra-African trade and the associated financing services are also reflected in the Bank’s fourth place ranking in the Administrative Agent category – a position reflecting significant progress since 2019.
The quarterly league tables assess the activities of banks and financial institutions, ranking the continent’s top arrangers, bookrunners and advisors across their services for loans, bonds, and M&A activities.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said:
“I am delighted to see the Bank’s important work recognized by Bloomberg. We are of course extremely pleased to be ranked Number 1 in the mandated lead arranger category, but we also derive great satisfaction from visible rankings achieved in other categories such Bookrunning and Facility Agent. More broadly, the Bank is pleased to note the continued commitment of Africa-focused financial institutions to African trade and infrastructure investment in this challenging economic environment which can only be interpreted as an indicator of the continent’s growing economic resilience and ongoing attractiveness to investors.”
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 2019, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at USD$15.5 billion and its shareholders funds amounted to US$2.8 billion. Afreximbank was “African Bank of the Year” in 2019. The Bank disbursed more than US$38 billion 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