Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has announces the successful acquisition of a $200 million 5-year loan and $100 million 5-year stand-by facility for general corporate purpose from the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) AFC is the leading infrastructure development finance institution in Africa, The facility from CEXIM marks AFC’s inaugural financing facility from the People’s Republic of China.
The loan is part of the Corporation’s strategic focus to build a broad coalition of investors by diversifying its fundraising activities to include all sources of institutional capital in East Asia, in addition to its existing partners in Europe and North America.
Apart from the medium-term liquidity the proposed facility will provide, it will also further provide contingent funding support which is particularly important for liquidity risk management as well as opening up other financing and relationships with Chinese entities (both state-owned and private).
AFC’s President, Samaila Zubairu, said: “In the last two decades, China has grown from a relatively small investor, to becoming one of Africa’s largest trading partners today.
“This facility is therefore not only a milestone for the Corporation and its strategy for the Far East, but also marks a natural evolution in the growing financial sophistication of China in Africa, a necessary development required to accelerate Africa’s journey towards closing the infrastructure deficit.
“Moreover, AFC welcomes CEXIM’s commitment towards its Africa strategy, and we look forward to lending our expertise on how best to deliver sustainable infrastructure investment that should catalyse industrial growth on the continent,” he added
