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5 February 2010
Standard Bank Group sweeps awards at Global Trade Review's 'Best Deals of 2009'
Standard Bank Group (SBG) has been named "Best Trade Finance Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa" at the Global Trade Review (GTR) magazine's awards alongside a sweep of "Best Deals of 2009" awards for deals with Agro Traders and Wataniya Palestine Telecom.
Craig Polkinghorne, Global Head of Structured Trade and Commodity Finance at SBG, said: "We are delighted to win a award that recognises our long-term commitment to trade finance banking in sub-Saharan Africa and our strategy of having significant on the ground expertise in each of the countries in the region."
Commenting on the "Best Deals of 2009" awards, Rebecca Spong, Editor of GTR, said: "The two entries from SBG were selected as winning deals by the editorial team primarily for their interesting structures acting as benchmarks for future transactions in those markets."
Agro Traders Limited is one of Nigeria's largest cocoa exporters, handling approximately 15% of the country?s cocoa output. Stanbic IBTC Bank (a member of SBG) acted as the sole arranger/lender for a US$15-million Cocoa Receivables-backed Revolving Trade Finance Facility provided to Agro Traders Limited.
This transaction is the first such structure to be provided in Nigeria by a local bank to a local exporter with documentation undertaken by a local legal counsel - in short: 'Made in Nigeria'.
"The transaction provides significant support to the Nigerian cocoa industry, which is currently undergoing regeneration as part of the Nigerian federal government's efforts to encourage the growth of the agricultural sector and to enhance the country's non-oil exports and revenues" said Olu Ajayi, Head of Structured Trade Finance at Stanbic IBTC.
The Wataniya Palestine Telecom financing is the first agreement in this field to deliver funding from international and local private sector sources for a greenfield development in Palestine. The project involves the financing of the second mobile licensee in Palestine during its launch and initial roll out in the West Bank region.
"This deal is a first-of-its-kind private sector loan, drawing funding from a wide range of leading international entities and local Palestinian banks, as well as multilateral institutions, providing material support for the creation of a new infrastructure for mobile phone services within Palestine" said Nina Triantis, Global Head of Telecoms and Media at SBG.
Global Trade Review is a leading international trade finance magazine, read by and featuring the market's key banks, credit insurers, corporates, traders, law firms, brokers and consultants. GTR provides in-depth news and analysis on the global emerging markets trade finance, export finance and risk markets.
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