The Bank of Industry (BOI) has received the highly coveted award for the ‘International Syndicated Loan Deal of The Year’ at the Bonds & Loans Africa Awards ceremony.

The award, which took place in Mount Nelson, Cape Town was in recognition of its $1billion Syndicated Term Loan Facility successfully raised in the international market in December 2020.

The award comes on the back of BOI’s successful issuance of a €750mn Senior Eurobond (the first by any African national DFI) in February 2022. In the last four years, Bank of Industry has raised about $3.8billion from the international financial market: This includes another syndicated loan of €1bn in March 2020; and a $750million syndicated medium-term loan in 2018 which has been fully paid off.

“This recognition highlights our impact as Nigeria’s leading Development Finance Institution committed to maximizing our developmental impact by raising and deploying the funds that enhance our capacity to support our customers.

“We look forward to intensifying our efforts to catalyze sustainable economic growth for Nigeria and the continent at large,” Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Industry, Mr. Olukayode Pitan said.

Pitan acknowledged the significant role that myriad strategic partners played in the consummation of this deal in spite of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic: “We are especially grateful for the support of our lead arrangers, underwriters and book runners; Afreximbank, Credit Suisse A.G, Rand Merchant Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation; and The Central Bank of Nigeria which provided a 100% currency swap that allowed us to mitigate foreign exchange rate risks.”