UBA, European Investment Bank agree to invest €60 million in Nigeria

12 Oct 2016
Financial Nigeria

Summary

The new loan was drawn from EIB’s new dedicated Nigeria Private Enterprise Investment Facility, which aims to provide private sector entrepreneurs and companies longer tenor loans to invest and expand activities across a range of sectors.

Kennedy Uzoka, Group CEO, UBA plc

The United Bank for Africa (UBA), a leading Pan-African banking group, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed a €60 million deal to provide long term loans to private companies in Nigeria.

The new lending programme was signed on the side-lines of the World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC, which held from October 7-9, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

“Private sector investment is crucial for creating jobs and ensuring sustainable economic growth,” said Ambroise Fayolle, Vice President of the European Investment Bank. “The European Investment Bank is committed to unlocking investment across Africa and we are pleased to build on past success to strengthen our partnership with UBA that will benefit projects across Nigeria.”

The new loan was drawn from EIB’s new dedicated Nigeria Private Enterprise Investment Facility, which aims to provide private sector entrepreneurs and companies longer tenor loans to invest and expand activities across a range of sectors. Besides lending to private companies, UBA will also use the new loan to fund capital expenditure, including expansion of branch network and improving information technology.

The announcement of UBA’s lending programme with the EIB comes as bank reported that its third quarter after-tax profit rose by 7.6 percent year-on-year N52.27 billion, while revenues rose 8.2 percent year-on-year to N265.53 billion.

“Our growing partnership with the European Investment Bank underlines our long term objective of facilitating the development and growth of African businesses,” said Kennedy Uzoka, UBA’s Group Managing Director. “This facility will enable UBA bridge critical financing gaps for Nigerian companies and deepen our capacity to support their growth aspirations in the local and international market place.”

The European Investment Bank is the world’s largest international public bank, with a balance sheet size of about €570.6 billion. The bank has provided about €12.8 billion for investment across Africa in the last five years.


Other Photos/Videos