By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A Lagos-based real estate company, Mixta Africa Plc, has received a fresh $13 million line of credit from a pan-African housing development financier, Shelter Afrique.
The 5-year facility with a moratorium of 24 months has been structured to fund the group’s current real estate projects in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Morocco.
According to a statement, the $13 million loan will co-finance the construction of 356 housing units in Côte d’Ivoire, 162 units in Senegal, and 371 units in Morocco, with selling prices varying from $26,000 in Morocco, $45,000 in Ivory Coast, and between $36,000 and $52,000 in Senegal.
The Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Mixta Africa, Mr Benson Ajayi, commended Shelter Afrique for expanding financing options for the real estate sector, adding the strategy deployed by Shelter Afrique to raise funds for housing projects from regional local currency bonds was laudable.
“We have been looking for such kind of strategy from DFI’s who purport to support us. That Shelter Afrique has been able to do this is really big for us and is what makes this transaction important and successful.
“If shelter Afrique came to us with a Dollar proposition, we would have said no, as our past Dollars transaction had its own share of forex challenges.
“We are, however, confident that the dollar-denominated facility being extended to us by shelter Afrique to finance projects in Morocco, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire will not suffer much forex shocks,” Mr Ajayi said.
On his part, the acting Managing Director of Shelter Afrique, Mr Kingsley Muwowo, lauded the strong and long-term relationship between the two institutions.
“In Mixta Africa, Shelter Afrique has a reliable partner that shares a common goal of developing affordable housing across Africa.
“We have therefore structured both the Naira and Dollar denominated credit facilities to support their real estate projects. The Naira loans, which are supported by the First series of the N500 billion bond, which raised N46 billion, will support Mixta Africa’s projects in Nigeria to guard against forex risks.
“The Dollar ticket, which is from our own capital resources, will support Mixta’s projects in Morocco, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire,” Mr Muwowo said.
More than $50m disbursed
Mr Muwowo disclosed that out of the $110 million (N46 billion) realized from the Naira-denominated bond debut in April, more than $50 million had already been disbursed to finance projects in Nigeria.
“Two months ago, we approved a $19.5 million (N8 billion) loan to Mixta Africa to support its affordable housing projects in Nigeria.
“Last week, we also approved a $24.03 million (N10 billion) commercial loan to Landmark Africa to partly finance the construction of a mixed-use housing project, Landmark Waterview Apartments and also help the company refinance existing debt. We expect a healthy project pipeline in Nigeria as demand continues to grow,” Mr Muwowo said.
Mixta Africa is a Pan-African real estate development company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. It was established in 2005 and has successfully executed many impactful projects since then. The company is currently present in 8 countries across Africa, with full operations in Nigeria, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, and Tunisia, but with projects in Algeria, Egypt, and Mauritania.
Adedapo Adesanya