With advisory services provided by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a leading Nigerian bank and member of the Ecobank Group, Ecobank Nigeria, has successfully concluded a highly-anticipated $200 million bond issuance, aimed at raising needed capital for its operations.
The publicly placed coupon bonds, which were listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, attracted an oversubscription from investors.
In mandating Afreximbank to advise it on the bond issuance, Ecobank assigned the trade finance bank with the responsibility to assist in preparing documentation for the transaction, as well as preparing Ecobank’s presentations to potential investors, and arranging investor road shows. According to Obi Emekekwue of Afreximbank external communications, in an emailed statement to BusinessDay Tuesday, the pan-African trade finance institution was also tasked with the marketing and placement of the securities to be initially issued under the transaction.
Emekekwue quoted the president of Afreximbank, Jean-Louis Ekra thus: “Afreximbank’s support for this transaction is part of our continuing effort at leveraging funds into Africa to finance trade activities.”
Ekra said: “We remain fully committed to providing African financial institutions with much-needed access to the international financial market to enhance their capacity to support economic growth in Africa.”
Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank were the joint lead managers on the transaction while Afreximbank, Ecobank Capital and Nedbank Capital served as co-lead managers.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, is the foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors.
Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organisation, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Since 1994, Afreximbank has approved almost $30 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $3.5 billion in 2013.
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