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Financing deals secured $8bn for Africa in 2014, says Afreximbank


The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) said it attracted some $8 billion to Africa in 2014 through 19 syndicated financing deals which it either arranged or co-arranged.

Afreximbank president Jean-Louis Ekra said that for every dollar that the bank committed in syndications during last year, it attracted $7 into Africa, in what he said was “a perfect example” of attracting external financing to support lending activities.

Ekra told Afreximbank’s annual update meeting with its relationship banks in London that a key part of the bank’s strategy included attracting international finance to the continent by “arranging or co-arranging syndications and club deals and inviting other financial institutions to share risk”.

In 2015, Afreximbank’s targets include “growing its net income by about 26% to $132.4 million and growing its assets by about 15% to $6.3bn”, Ekra said.

Financial institutions supporting Afreximbank would find it to be “a strong and credible partner in Africa with very good knowledge of the market”, Ekra said.

Eloise Walker of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: “Afreximbank’s 2014 performance is another indicator of the strength of the African services economy. Demand for reliable African partners from global institutional investors entering into complex financings was at pre-crisis levels last year, and remains strong in 2015.”

Walker said: “The bank’s ambitious growth forecast is in line with wider financial services market confidence, and its 2014 performance provides a strong base from which to achieve its aims.”

Afreximbank was established in Abuja, Nigeria in 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors and non-African financial institutions and private investors, to finance and promote an expansion of intra-African and extra-African trade. The bank started operations from its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, in September 1994 and has branches in Zimbabwe and Abuja.

The bank said last February that a capital-raising exercise it embarked on in September 2014 generated a total of $107.5m as of 31 December 2014, which exceeded the bank’s $100m year-end target. More than $77m of the new capital “came from share warrants booked under an equity capital market structure, while $30.2m was from paid-in capital received from existing and new shareholders”, the bank said.

According to the third annual Deloitte African Construction Trends Report (28-page / 2.01 MB PDF), investment in African ‘mega projects’ increased by 46% to $326bn in 2014, led by heavy investment in transport, energy and power. The report said the average project value rose from $689m in 2013 to $1.27bn last year, an increase of 84%.

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