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Rand Merchant Bank wins award from the Banker Magazine for Nigerian deal

The Banker magazine award for Deal of the Year 2009 in the category Project Finance: Africa went to the Lekki Epe Expressway, a toll road being built in Lagos, Nigeria. Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) acted as financial advisor to the Lekki Concession Company which will build, operate and maintain the tool road.

The Banker award follows a previous accolade for the deal, earlier this year, from Euromoney’s Project Finance magazine which awarded the Lekki Epe Expressway the Africa Public Private Partnership (PPP) Deal of the Year.

The Lekki Expressway is a PPP between the Lekki Concession Company and the Nigerian government and is the first PPP in Nigeria and the first PPP toll road deal in west Africa.

The first, three-year phase of the project entails upgrading 49km of the Lekki-Epe road while phase two will involve the development of the first 20km of the coastal road with an option to develop the southern bypass too.

The total cost of the project is about $400-million sourced from the African Development Bank ($85-million senior debt over 15 years), international banks and local Nigerian banks - including First Bank Nigeria and United Bank for Africa which provided a 12-year note facility for $80-million, and Zenith Bank, First Inland Bank, Diamond Bank and Fidelity Bank. The Lagos State Government also provided a Naira 5-billion mezzanine debt tranche over 20 years. The tenor of the debt is the longest the market has seen in the region.

The equity for the deal is being provided by Asset Resource Managers (ARM), Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund, Larue Projects and Hi-tech Construction.

RMB brought to the party its deal-structuring capabilities and its experience in closing complex project financing transactions.

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Contact

Werner van Oudenhove, Head of Infrastructure Finance, Rand Merchant Bank on +27 11 2828121 or Ato Gyasi, Rand Merchant Bank on +27 011 282 1827