Africa Loans

IHS Towers will begin the roadshow for its loan in the next week or so, according to a banker involved with the deal. The Nigerian telecoms infrastructure company is expected to wrap up the loan by February.

African banks have been busy in the loan market over the winter break, with Nigeria’s First City Monument Bank (FCMB) signing term loans and Stanbic Uganda rumoured to be coming to market. Meanwhile, Zenith Bank of Nigeria has revealed the allocations of its recent $300m loan.

Zenith Bank of Nigeria is signing a $300m loan today – its first in the international syndicated loan market. The deal was increased from $250m after being oversubscribed.

Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (the West African Development Bank) will raise $1.35bn in the regional capital markets over the next four years. The bank also announced plans to borrow $460m from international capital markets at a board meeting in Benin last week.

Strong deals from Liquid Telecom, Fidelity Bank, Lake Turkana Wind Power and Africa Finance Corp in recent weeks have highlighted the popularity of supranational and telecoms deals in Africa.

Lake Turkana Wind Power, the Kenyan wind power project, has signed a $625m loan, the largest single private investment in Kenya.

Africa Finance Corp has obtained a $300m term loan from 23 banks. The deal received over $630m of commitments from investors.

Makram Abboud is VTB Capital's chief executive officer, Middle East and Africa and vice-chairman, international. Dan Alderson spoke to him about how the bank is carving out its niche in these regions, which have become a focus for Western banks with the shut out of the Russian loan market in 2014. Abboud also discussed challenges and opportunities in the year ahead and the prospect of VTB issuing its first sukuk.

Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has agreed to provide two loans totalling $192m for the government of Benin.

Standard Bank — Bulgaria

IHS Towers, the African mobile telecommunications infrastructure firm, has launched an $800m loan into the market. The deal, which has been in discussion for some time, comes as a number of African borrowers look to complete signings in the next week.

South Africa’s Standard Bank has signed a $700m three year term loan, while Nigeria headquartered Africa Finance Corporation looks set to close general syndication of its $300m deal by Friday.