By Andrei Skvarsky.
Société Générale, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporaton (SMBC) were among banks that have arranged a $1.16bn syndicated loan for Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) in a United Arab Emirates project aiming to give a boost to African economies.
The total amount to be raised was initially set at $1bn but was increased to $1.16bn after the planned loan was 49 per cent oversubscribed, according to Dubai-based English-language daily Khaleej Times.
The organisers of the three-year loan were an array of banks that included Intesa Sanpaolo, Japan’s MUFG and Mizuho, the UAE’s First Abu Dhabi Bank and Emirates NBD and Oman’s Muscat.
The Bank of China, which, according to a Forbes ranking for January 2024, is the world’s 10th largest lender by capitalisation, was among the lead arrangers. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which holds the third position in the same ranking, was coordinator for China.
The loan is expected to give an impetus to industrialisation and job creation and result in higher export earnings, according to Samaila Zubairu, president and chief executive of AFC, which is an institution set up by African governments to speed up economic development in the continent.
In 2023, AFC signed a $625m syndicated loan deal with predominantly Middle Eastern and Asian banks, Khaleej Times said.