Shareholders of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have decided to reinvest US$20.5 million, recommended by the Board of Directors as dividends, into the equity in the Bank in order to improve the Bank’s capitalization.
An Afreximbank statement obtained by PANA said the reinvestment of the proposed dividends was one of a series of decisions taken by the shareholders in Libreville on 7 June during their 21st General Meeting to help ensure that Afreximbank complies with the minimum capital adequacy ratio target of 20 per cent which it had set for itself.
The shareholders also approved a general capital increase of US$500 million, with 31,068 shares on offer, and issued a mandate to the Board of Directors to work out the details of the capital increase and its implementation.
In addition, they approved the issuance of a hybrid capital for which they authorised that the terms and conditions be approved by the Board of Directors.
They also confirmed their awareness of the Management’s plan to greatly enhance the callable capital obligations of shareholders in a bid to bring an amount of US$266 million of the Bank’s callable capital into the equity of the Cairo-based Bank.
Bank President Jean-Louis Ekra said the decisions reflected the strong confidence which the shareholders had in the Board and Management of the Bank, adding that such support was very symbolic at a time that the Bank needed to show that it had the full backing of its shareholders.
Earlier in his report to the shareholders, the President had announced that the total assets of the Bank had jumped by 19 per cent to US$4.4 billion, compared to US$3.7 billion in 2012.
The shareholders’ funds went from US$178 million in 1999 to US$707 million in 2013, he said, adding that Afreximbank’s financial strength had enabled it to make major impact on Africa’s trade and economic development.
“For instance, the largest aircraft acquisition financing mandate in Africa in the amount of about US$2 billion granted by Kenya Airways in 2012 was fully executed through multiple award-winning structures, including one of only two US Exim-Backed bond structures ever to be implemented in Africa,” he said.
