Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) closes Debut Dual Currency Samurai Term Loan Facility

– � Largest ever debut Samurai Loan for an African Issuer

–   The facility raised US$ 233 million and JPY 1 billion

–   Advances AFC’s objective of building a broad coalition of
international investors

 

TOKYO,
JAPAN - African Media Agency - 17 September 2019 – Africa
Finance Corporation (“AFC” or “the Corporation”), Africa’s leading investment-grade
infrastructure solutions provider, announces the successful closure of general
syndication which raised US$ 233 million and JPY 1 billion. MUFG Bank, Ltd.
(“MUFG”) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”)
acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner.

MUFG will be acting as Facility Agent on the transaction,
while SMBC will be acting as Documentation Agent.

 

The
Facility, which comprises two tranches, with both tranches (US$-denominated
Tranche A and JPY-denominated Tranche B) carrying a tenor of three years each
(bullet repayment), is AFC’s first Asian-currency denominated loan facility. It
is an important step as the Corporation builds a broad coalition of investors
to diversify its funds and allow institutions from around the globe to
participate in Africa’s development.

The fundraise was very well received in the Japanese
loan market leading to the issue being significantly over-subscribed. This is
the largest debut Samurai Loan by an African issuer. The   facility was signed on 6 September 2019 with eight
Japanese lenders committing to the Facility. The Facility launched into general
syndication on 23 July 2019 at a launch amount of US$ 150 million.

 

Proceeds
from the Facility will be used for general corporate purposes in accordance
with AFC’s Establishment Agreement and the Charter.

Samaila
Zubairu, President and CEO of AFC, commented: “The market’s keen interest in
participating in AFC’s clearly defined African growth strategy is demonstrated
by the wide pool of lenders that supported the syndication. The success of this
loan offering is testament to AFC’s ability to diversify our funding sources as
we build a coalition of investors to support our mandate of providing solutions
to Africa’s infrastructure deficit as well as to our strong fundamentals as an
investment-grade institution.”

About AFC – www.africafc.org

AFC,
an investment grade multilateral finance institution, was established in 2007
with an equity capital base of US$1 billion, to be the catalyst for private
sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa.  With a current
balance sheet of approximately US$4.5 billion, AFC is the second highest
investment grade rated multilateral financial institution in Africa with an
A3/P2 (Stable outlook) rating from Moody’s Investors Service. AFC successfully
raised US$650 million in 2019, US$500 million in 2017 and US$750 million in
2015 through Eurobond issuances. All Eurobond issues were oversubscribed and
attracted investors from Asia, Europe and the USA. 

AFC’s
investment approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on
financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development and
risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive
sustainable economic growth.  AFC invests in high-quality infrastructure
assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of
power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. To
date, the Corporation has invested over US$4.5 billion in projects within 29
countries across Africa.

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