UBA Secures EUR 234m Oil and Gas Financing Deal in Senegal

In a move that underscores its capacity to fund big ticket transactions across Africa, United Bank for Africa has secured a multi-million oil and gas financing deal with SAR (Société Africaine de Raffinage) of Senegal. Under the financing deal, secured after a rigorous bid process involving other financial institutions, UBA Senegal will avail SAR, the National Refinery of Sénégal a total facility of EUR 234million in three parts. The first part is a crude oil financing facility of Euro 180 million, followed with a short Term Loan of Euro 54 Million to finance stock and receivables and then a Receivable Financing Facility of Euro 60 Million. The official signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Energy and was witnessed by the Senegalese Minister of Energy, Samuel SARR, Mr. M. Carmello SAGNA, CEO of SAR and a delegation of UBA which included CEO UBA AFRICA, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa and Managing Director, UBA Senegal, Mr. Jean-Luc Konan. According Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, CEO UBA Africa, the transaction is the largest outside of Nigeria and comes on the heels of UBA's lead role in the US$265million supplementary refinancing deal for Exxon Mobil and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). 'We are positioned to support governments and institutions actualize growth and development potentials in Senegal and across Africa, thus making UBA a financial partner of choice for major players in the oil and gas sector in Africa ' Olaoluwa said. Commenting on the deal, The Senegalese Minister for Energy, M. Samuel  said the development is  historical for Senegal and for UBA Group. 'The UBA/SAR deal demonstrates  the increasing importance of intra-African finance, with African institutions ready and willing to provide long term and sophisticated financial solutions to African clients. The transaction also underlines the strong relationship between Nigeria and Senegal , and brings with it the potential for the refining of Nigerian crude by SAR' the minister said.

United Bank for Africa Plc is one of Africa's leading financial institutions offering universal banking to more than 7 million customer accounts across Africa and key financial centres. It currently operates in 16  African countries including; Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, C ô te d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sénégal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Chad, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania , Zambia  and equally has presence in New York, London and Paris thus being able to effectively arbitrage Africa an African related business globally.