Africa Finance Corporation Concludes $140m Loan Facility
Africa Finance Corporation has announced the closing of its inaugural $140m Kimchi Term loan facility.
The AFC said in a statement that the facility was AFC’s first Korean-focused instrument, which followed the corporation’s $233m and ¥1bn dual currency Samurai term loan facility that closed in September 2019, and a $300m loan facility through the Export-Import Bank of China.
According to the statement, there is an additional investment from Asian investors’, who purchased 28 per cent and 16 per cent of the corporation’s $500m and $650m Eurobond issuances, respectively, this year.
It said cumulatively, recent Asian investments (from China, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan) into AFC had reached approximately $1.2bn.
The statement read in part, “The closing of the Kimchi Loan Facility, and all other Asian investments in AFC, exemplifies the corporation’s success in global investor engagements.
“It is also an important step as it builds a broad coalition of investors to diversify its funding sources while also allowing institutions from around the globe to participate in Africa’s development.”
The AFC said proceeds from the Kimchi term loan facility would be used for general corporate purposes in accordance with its Establishment Agreement and the Charter.
The President/Chief Executive Officer, AFC, Samaila Zubairu, said, “We are very pleased to have achieved this historic milestone with the South Korean debt markets, which we know to have highly selective investment criteria, as was evidenced through this Kimchi loan facility.
“The success, close on the heels of the Samurai loan facility in Japan, signifies the East’s growing appetite for African investments, which are particularly attractive considering today’s negative-yield environment.”
Zubairu added that the corporation was looking forward to a continued engagement with South Korea, as well as the other Asian markets that understood the opportunity available through Africa’s unprecedented development.
