RICE FARMERS, OTHERS TO ACCESS BILL GATES’ $30 BILLION AGRICULTURE GRANT

The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, says it is working to access the $30 billion agricultural grant contributed by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other donor agencies for rice production in Africa.

The National President of the association, Alhaji Aminu Goronyo, stated that the Association had submitted a template that would qualify it for the grant.

According to him, a team of experts from Geneva had met with the Association on the grant, which Nigerian farmers can access as much as $600 million.

He said the visit was fallout of the Green Revolution Forum tagged `New Push for Africa’s Agricultural Transformation,’ held in September 2016 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, where the Fund was pledged. He said the Grant would cover various rice value chains including production, processing, packaging and marketing, and would assist the Country attain self sufficiency in rice production.

Goronyo listed other partners that contributed to the fund to include Grow Africa and John Kufor Foundation.

AFREXIM BANK WOOS NIGERIAN INVESTORS WITH $300 MILLION EQUITY OFFERING

The African Export-Import Bank’s (Afrexim Bank) has launched a $300 million equity offering, for which it is using depositary receipts backed by its Class “D” shares and is seeking for participation from Nigerian investors.

According to the Bank, the depositary receipts, which will be listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius is being managed by SBM Asset Managers as lead arranger, and will open the Bank’s shareholding to the investor public. It will also mark the first time a supranational bank would issue depositary receipts through an African stock exchange.

The Bank is aiming to raise between $100 million and $300 million through the depositary receipts issuance as part of a bigger target to mobilize up to $1 billion in equity from new and existing investors over the next five years.

The Bank’s President Benedict Oramah who spoke at a meeting with top investors in Lagos said that the issuance of the depositary receipts was meant to enhance the Bank’s capitalization so as to significantly narrow the trade financing gap in Africa, which is currently estimated at $120 billion annually, and to meet the strategic objective of growing intra-African trade.

According to him, the issuance also represents an opportunity for the Bank to diversify its shareholder base by enabling investors in Africa and beyond, who have not yet invested in the Bank to do so. He also noted that Afrexim Bank had consistently delivered development impact in its member countries, including Nigeria where virtually every banking institution had benefited from its support.