Heirs Energies Ltd has sealed a 750 million dollar financing agreement with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The agreement was signed by Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, and George Elombi, president and chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, in Abuja on Saturday.
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It aims to boost the company’s drive for energy efficiency.
Mr Elumelu described the agreement as a clear manifestation of Africa’s capital working for African businesses.
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He commended Afreximbank for supporting the growth of African businesses, describing it as the most impactful and catalytic financial institution on the continent.
He urged African business leaders to always endeavour to retain the confidence of financial institutions that support their investments.
“Afreximbank has grown the capacity and the boldness to support African business. And that is what I say to my fellow private sector leaders: when financial institutions support you, the least you owe them is to perform.
“You encourage them to do more for you and for others also. And that is very important,” he said.
The Afreximbank President, George Elombi, said that the bank was committed to supporting businesses in Africa to grow.
According to Mr Elombi, Afreximbank is currently working on an energy bank which will handle most of the energy portfolio.
“We will put tremendous capital into this, and we will ensure that it is also as good and innovative as Afreximbank itself has been so that we can continue to support that sector,” he said.
Samuel Nwanze, the executive director and chief financial officer of Heirs Energy, stated that the $ 750 million in funding was intended to scale the company.
Mr Nwanze said the plan was to grow the business both organically and inorganically.
“What we are doing with this financing is to position the company for the next phase of growth that we are pursuing.
“We are looking at the potential we see in this asset. We think this asset can do up to 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the current capacity of about 55,000 barrels.
“We are working towards getting to about 100,000 barrels of oil over the next three years and also to deliver about 250 million scopes of gas,” he said.
Mr Nwanze said the main aim of Heirs Holdings going into the oil and gas business is to drive energy sufficiency for the country.
“Anywhere where we see the opportunity to acquire more assets that will help us achieve that global vision is what we intend to do,” he said.
He said the facility from Afreximbank was in two legs.
According to him, one is refinancing of existing debt.
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“We are structuring what we call a reserve-based lending facility. So, basically, because we have grown the capacity of the assets, we are getting additional money.
“The additional money we are getting, we are going to use to pursue growth. And then we will use some of the money for the purpose of refinancing our existing debt,” he said.
(NAN)
