Africa Loans

Mauritius Commercial Bank is looking for a syndicated loan, in a rare deal to pass across London desks so far this month that is not a refinancing exercise.

African Export-Import Bank has closed a $500m five year term loan, it announced on Wednesday, partly guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of China. The presence of a mainly Asian syndicate has sparked discussion about the continually increasing Chinese capital flowing into Africa.

Pessimism hangs over Nigeria's chances of entering the loan market in 2019 as the country battles an economic slowdown, a commodity slump and political uncertainty. But not all loans bankers are so glum about the chances of Africa's most populous nation and biggest oil producer raising debt from international financiers.

Africa Finance Corp has raised a $300m loan facility from a consortium of international lenders.

ZOLA Electric, formerly Off Grid Electric, has raised a $32.5m credit facility with development bank, FMO, and investment firm, Symbiotics.

Cameroon’s Nachtigal Hydro Power Co has raised euro loans, estimated at above €900m, to fund construction of a €1.2bn 420MW hydroelectric plant on the Sanaga river near Yaounde. Most of the debt is coming from development finance institutions, but a few commercial banks are involved.

MetLife, the US insurance company, has made an unusual investment as part of its impact investment portfolio, which has about $200m of assets. It is providing a revolving credit facility to an impact investment fund, to enable it to cope more easily with redemptions.

Two emerging market borrowers have been forced to postpone planned deals this week, with investors demanding better yields to risk their cash in the volatile market.

Steinhoff’s multi-billion euro equivalent debt restructuring saga took another step forward this week, with the company receiving High Court approval to press on with a scheme of arrangement related to its US subsidiary Mattress Firm.

Telecom Egypt has signed its $500m loan, with 11 mostly Gulf region banks joining the trade during the syndication process.

Africa Finance Corp (AFC) has signed a $300m financing package from a Chinese state run bank for the first time, at a time when China’s lending into the continent is coming under increased scrutiny.

Steinhoff has asked its creditors for a one month extension on its multi-billion euro debt restructuring process, with the South African retailer saying on Monday that it needs longer to finalise documentation.