…Nigeria, Kenya, Others To Benefit From Deal
In a significant move aimed at boosting industrial development across Africa, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed a US$450 million global credit facility agreement with ARISE IIP, a leading pan-African developer and operator of world-class industrial parks.
The Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development, Kanayo Awani, signed the pact on behalf of Afreximbank, while ARISE IIP’s Chief Treasury Officer, Arvind Arora, signed on behalf of his company.
A news report on the deal from African Press Organisation (APO) Group distributed on behalf of the bank indicated that the credit facility would support the development of industrial parks and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), while also providing crucial trade finance support to businesses operating within the ARISE IIP ecosystem.
According to the news, the US$ 450 million, granted in the context of Afreximbank’s strategic objective of promoting, facilitating, and supporting Africa’s industrialisation ecosystems, is part of a proposed US$800 million facility to support ARISE IIP in developing Industrial Parks (IPs) and SEZs in such countries as Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi, among others.
Under the terms of the facility agreement, ARISE IIP will deploy US$ 300 million to finance working capital requirements for its operating Industrial Parks (GDIZ-Benin, PIA-Togo, LAHAM TCHAD-Chad, PEIA-Cote d’Ivoire and BSEZ-Rwanda) and for capital expenditures for the development of new industrial parks in DRC, Kenya, Chad, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire.
Similarly, ARISE IIP will deploy the remaining US$ 150 million to develop an industrial park in Lilongwe, Malawi, and as trade finance for the activities of its export trading company in Malawi under Afreximbank’s Export Agriculture for Food Security initiative.
Commenting on the deal, the Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development Bank, Kanayo Awani, said: “The facility reflects Afreximbank’s ongoing commitment to mobilising financial and technical resources towards the promotion of industrialisation across Africa. This is our way of supporting value addition and structural transformation of African economies.
“We remain eager to collaborate with key stakeholders to build trusted partnerships and to industrialise African countries. Afreximbank strongly believes that IPs and SEZs are veritable tools that Africa can deploy to fast-track industrial infrastructure development and to promote intra-African trade and export development.
“With ARISE IIP as an established developer and operator of IPs and SEZs on the continent, we are confident that this facility will contribute to supporting the continental industrialisation agenda”, the banker added.
In his remarks on the credit facility, ARISE IIP’s Chief Treasury Officer, Arvind Arora, enthused: “The US$450 million facility represents a major step forward in supporting Africa’s industrialisation efforts. This financing covers critical working capital and capital expenditure needs across various countries, addressing the diverse requirements for industrial development.
Africa’s infrastructure investment gap, currently exceeding US$100 billion annually, significantly impacts the continent’s living conditions and its global competitiveness. At ARISE IIP, we are committed to working with strategic partners around the world to bridge this gap and accelerate industrialisation across the continent”, Arora assured.
The development of the new IPs and SEZs, along with the expansion of activities in the existing IPs, is expected to result in the attraction of 230 tenants, bringing in an estimated investment of US$ 1.7 billion over the next five years, while total exports from the new IPs and SEZs, once in operation, would reach US$ 5 billion over the five-year period, with domestically-sourced goods and services reaching US$ 3.4 billion.
In addition, the new investments in the IPs and SEZs are expected to contribute to the creation of 32,000 direct jobs and 138,000 in-direct jobs.
Afreximbank has been working with ARISE IIP as a strategic partner, focusing on industrialisation initiatives across Africa. The collaboration has seen the Bank and Arise working together on various projects including a USD 5 Billion Africa Textile Renaissance Plan, which intends to create 500,000 MT of African cotton transformation capacity and 500,000 jobs.
The Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), Afreximbank’s development impact investment arm, invested USD 300 million in the latest fundraising round, which concluded in October 2024. During this round, Arise IIP raised a total of USD 443 million.
