Africa Loans

Amaya — Africell — Turkish Airlines — Ashtead

A recent $150m loan for Sub-Saharan-based telecommunications firm Africell has a four year tenor, bankers close to the deal have revealed.

Africell, the Sub-Saharan-based telecommunications firm owned by Lebanon's Lintel Group, has signed a $150m syndicated loan with local and international lenders.

Deals for the Kenya Pipeline Company and the Itare Dam project provided a boost for the Kenyan infrastructure sector, but these types of deals move in slow motion according to bankers.

After a long time working on the deal, Kenya Pipeline Co has completed its $350m 10 year loan.

Italian construction firm CMC Ravenna has raised €306m from BNP Paribas and Intesa Sanpaolo to build the Itare Dam in Kenya, with most of the funds guaranteed by Italian export credit agency SACE.

African Export-Import Bank has named the banking group Afreximbank for its completed syndication of a $458m and €406m dual tranche term loan, its largest ever.

South Africa’s Investec Bank has completed a $200m new money term loan, in its second deal of the year after a $400m refinancing in February.

The Austrian subsidiary of Steinhoff International, the South African furniture retailer, has issued an inaugural Schuldschein for €650m, the second largest of the year.

African Export-Import Bank is wrapping up general syndication of a two year loan on Thursday, having added $300m to the size of the deal on strong demand.

As a poor first half for CEEMEA loan volumes ends, banker optimism is in short supply for the rest of the year – but Turkey, Africa and the Middle East offer hope.

This year’s protracted Nigerian loan drought could soon be over, say officials, with the first deals in a wave of bank refinancings likely to come within three weeks.