The Bank of Industry (BoI) has completed a £1 billion Guaranteed Senior Loan Facility in order to increase lending in the financial sector.
AbsoBank Limited; FirstAbuDhabiBankPJSC; FirstRand Bank Limited, London; Moshreqbonk PSC, Nedbank Limited, London; and SMBCBank InternationalP were among the investment banks (Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers) and underwriters for the senior phase of the transaction, which was led by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Standard Chartered Bank.
BoI disclosed this in a statement naming African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) as the transaction’s agent bank.
The bank also stated that after the general syndication, which a syndicate of institutions has expressed interest in, it has the option to increase the facility size to £1.5 billion.
Mr Kayode Pitan, Managing Director, commented on the development, saying, “The proceeds of this deal, like our previous ones, will be used to provide much needed medium to long term finance to Nigerian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and large enterprises with bankable transactions at affordable Naira interest rates.”
Between 2015 and 2021, the bank disbursed over N1.2 trillion to over 4 million enterprises, creating over 9 million direct and indirect jobs.
It thanked its majority shareholders, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and its Committee of Governors, saying, “We express deep appreciation to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, as well as our supervising ministry, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment.”
