South Korea and Dubai are new lenders
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has attracted new lenders with South Korea and Dubai joining others to inject $400 million into it to support its development objectives continentwide.
An initial $300 million target to shore up funds was raised to $400 million as AFC Director Sameh Shenouda said it may borrow up to $3 billion in 2022.
AFC created in September 2021 an independent asset management arm, AFC Capital Partners, to raise $500 million in one year and $2 billion over the next three years.
AFC Senior Director and Treasurer Banji Fehintola said the new fund will be used to achieve various objectives as the continent needs a lot of resources to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
Part of the money will also be used to settle loans and liabilities, he added.
The loan was secured from a group of 12 banks including Dubai’s Mashreqbank PSC, Korea Development Bank, Absa Group of South Africa, Standard Chartered, and Bank of China.
The loan includes a Kimchi Bond, a security sold in foreign currency in the South Korean market.
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About AFC
AFC was founded in 2007 to facilitate infrastructural development across the length and breadth of the continent.
It is an independent, majority private-sector owned, multilateral African financial institution that provides project structuring expertise and risk capital to address Africa’s pressing need of infrastructure, capacity, and economic development.
There are currently 33 African member countries in AFC.
It has disbursed over $8.7 billion across 35 African countries in sectors such as power, transport, telecommunications, heavy industries and natural resources, per Nairametrics.
Projects that received its funding include:
- Bakwena toll road in South Africa spanning 385 kilometres
- Carbon holding petrochemicals facility in Egypt
- Gabon Special Economic Zone Company (GSEZ) now called ARISE Ports & Logistics
The AFC office is in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria.
