Dangote Group, the Pan-African conglomerate, has acquired shares in Cairo-based African financial institution Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)
The statement released by Afreximbank said that Dangote Group completed the process of acquiring equity stake in the bank with a “substantial investment”.
Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution dedicated to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade functioning through collaboration between African governments, private and institutional investors as well as non-African investors.
This move comes few months after Afreximbank launched a new strategy to ramp up trade amongst African countries from its current level of US$170bn to US$250bn by 2021 by expanding existing trading activities within Africa’s regional economic communities, integrating informal trade into formal frameworks, reducing trade barriers and minimising the foreign exchange costs of intra-African trade.
According to Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah, Dangote Group was made a partner of their choice in the delivery of the bank’s intra-African trade strategy because of the massive investments the group is making across Africa.
Oramah said, “We will build supply chain financing across Africa that could reach US$1bn in the short term, promoting intra-regional trade and growth of SMEs and creating much needed jobs.”
He added that intra-regional trade will drive value addition in Africa and help reduce the continent’s dependence on commodities and allow for the expansion of domestic trade value chains.
Dangote group president and chief executive Aliko Dangote added, “I consider Afreximbank a good vehicle for fostering regional integration in Africa which aligns with our vision and mission for growth and development across the continent.”
