By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A credit facility worth $600 million has been obtained by a Nigeria-based pan-African proprietary investment holding company, Heirs Holdings Group.
The loan deal, obtained from African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim), was sealed recently at the Afrexim Intra-Africa Trade Conference in Cairo, Egypt, and will support Heirs Holdings’ power, oil and gas strategy, as it positions itself as an African leader in integrated natural resources.
The proceeds of the facilities will assist the Heirs Holdings Group vision of creating a dynamic resource based division, focused on ensuring value creation occurs on the African continent and that value chains are developed, that directly benefit the broader African economy and consumer.
Heirs Holdings has significant investments across Africa, in the financial services, resources, real estate and hospitality and power sectors.
Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Mr Tony Elumelu, while expressing his joy in the loan deal, said Afrexim Bank “continues to play a critical role in the economic and social development of the continent.”
“Together, we illustrate that Africa can create world class institutions, which are capable of successfully making the long-term investments necessary for Africa’s economic transformation and catalyse the enabling environment that will unleash Africa’s potential,” he added.
President of Afrexim Bank, Mr Benedict Oramah, while also commenting, stated that the investment by Heirs Holdings would play a key role in addressing some of the fundamental challenges that have affected the power and energy sectors in Africa. “A world class energy sector is fundamental to the sustainable growth of businesses in Africa. If we do not deal with these basic matters, growth of trade and exports will always be limited,” he noted.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya