US$1,300 MILLION PRE-EXPORT RECEIVABLES BACKED TRADE FINANCE FACILITY
On behalf of Ghana Cocoa Board (the “Borrower” or “COCOBOD”), Bank of China Limited, London Branch (“BoC”), Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A (“Rabobank”), DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank Frankfurt am Main (“DZ BANK”), Ghana International Bank plc (“GHIB”), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, London Branch (“ICBC”), MUFG Bank, Ltd. (“MUFG”), Natixis, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank (“Standard Chartered”) (together the “Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers” or “IMLAS’’ or “Bookrunners” or the “Arranger Group”) are pleased to announce the official signing and successful closing of COCOBOD’s annual pre-export receivables backed trade finance facility of US$1,300 million (the “Facility”). Proceeds of the Facility will be used to assist COCOBOD in meeting its financing needs for the 2020/2021 cocoa crop.
Intesa SanPaolo S.p.A has joined the Facility as Senior Mandated Lead Arranger, while Ecobank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, OPEC Fund for International Development, State Bank of India and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation joined as Lead Arrangers, Commerzbank and United Bank for Africa joined as Arrangers, Stanbic Bank Ghana, Absa Group Limited, Banque Cantonale de Genève, Federated, London Forfaiting Company Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and AfrAsia Bank joined as Lead Managers.
Signing of the Facility is on 30th September 2020.
COCOBOD is a Statutory Public Board established in 1947 and is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture which supervises Ghana’s cocoa industry. Ghana is the second largest cocoa exporter in the world and thus cocoa is a strategically important commodity for Ghanaian exports. Ghanaian cocoa is of superior quality and commands a premium.
In addition to COCOBOD’s principal functions of purchasing, marketing and exporting of cocoa, it also promotes the production of the commodity, focusing on the maximisation of cocoa production and crop yield through agronomic research programmes and major logistic management investment.
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