LAGOS – The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has secured 25 million Euro dual tranche credit facility from a Dakar-based leasing company, Locafrique Senegal, to further support the Senegalese agricultural sector.
This is contained in a statement made available to journalists by Afreximbank on Tuesday in Lagos.
It said that Afreximbank originated and arranged the club of lenders for the facility, including Banque Atlantique, which is participating in the two tranches in an amount of seven million dollars.
“The leasing tranche is secured by a guarantee from the United States Agency for International Development for up to 7.5 million Euros,” it added.
It quoted President of Afreximbank, Jean-Louis Ekra, at the signing ceremony for the facility in Cairo, as saying that the facility will be in two installments.
According to the statement, the first tranche of the facility, amounting to 20 million Euros, will enable Locafrique finance purchase and import agricultural equipment.
It said that the equipment would be leased to the firm’s clients involved in agricultural activities and clients involved in transportation, manufacturing, construction, energy and industry.
It said that the company would use the Tranche II to purchase and discount qualifying receivables from clients under a factoring operation.
Ekra said that the facility was part of the bank’s strategic objective to contribute to the promotion of factoring in Africa.
“This facility helps to bring much-needed support to SMEs in Senegal as direct exporters in the supply chain and ensures that agriculture is commercialised as a business.
“It will enable Senegalese growers to shift from traditional manual agriculture to intensive industrial production, thereby improving productivity, efficiency and quality,” Ekra said
Also speaking, Khadim Ba, Managing Director of Locafrique, expressed appreciation to Afreximbank for its support to the company.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) 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 organization, 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.
Afreximbank is headquartered in Cairo. (NAN)
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