Ghana Cocoa Boardâ?s 17th annual pre-export finance facil ity (COCOBOD) has secured a record number of commitments, Stanbic Bank Ghana, a m ember of the Standard Bank Group, has confirmed on Monday in Accra.
Standard Bank was one of the joint Mandated Lead Arrangers (MLAs) for the US$ 1. 2 billion transaction along with Crédit Agricole, Industrial and Commercial Ban k of China (ICBC), Ghana International Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporati o n (SMBC).
The transaction was oversubscribed at US$ 1.834 billion and the borrower increas ed the facility size to US$ 1.5 billion.
A total of 28 banks, including the MLAs, confirmed participation, with ticket si zes following scale-backs ranging from US$ 5 million to US$ 100 million.
“Cocoa is a strategic economic commodity for Ghana both as a significant contrib utor to GDP and as a consistent source of foreign exchange earnings. It is there f ore necessary for us as a bank to promote and enhance the industry and we are ha p py to do this,” Alhassan Andani, Managing Director of Stanbic Bank, Ghana, said.
Established in 1947, the Ghana Cocoa Board is the chief proponent of the product ion, processing and marketing of cocoa, coffee and sheanut.
Ghana is the second largest cocoa beans exporter in the world after Cote d’Ivoir e, providing approximately 18% of the world cocoa supply.
Ghana cocoa is of superior quality and commands a quality premium reflecting exc ellent growing conditions, fermentation and collection care that COCOBOD designs
into the supply chain.
The structure of the deal remains unchanged, with the facility used to purchase cocoa beans for the 2010/11 season, and secured by the assignment of export cont r acts from overseas buyers.
â?The Ghana Cocoa Board transaction remains one of the largest structured soft commodity finance facilities in the African market, and it is pleasing to see su c h strong and continued demand for this premier transaction from international in v estorsâ¦â? said Ms Anne-Marie Woolley, Head of Structured Trade and Commodity F inance, Africa, at Stanbic Bank Africa.
The deal will be finalized at an agreement signing in Accra on Wednesday, 22 Sep tember, 2010.
