Côte d’Ivoire will take part in the ongoing capital increase of Afreximbank

(Agence Ecofin) - The Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara announced that his country will increase its investment in the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) by activating its subscription rights to new shares issued within the capital increase operation currently undertaken, we learned from a communiqué released by the institution.

One should remember that in September 2014, the shareholders of Afreximbank, during an extraordinary general meeting held in Cairo, approved a share offering of USD 500 million, in the form of funding, in order to increase the bank capitalisation. The share offering was allocated on a prorated basis to existing shareholders according to their current shareholding level in the capital of the bank.

This share offering had already gathered a total of USD 105.5 million by the end of 2014 and an additional USD 137.9 million by 30 June 2015. The initiative should thus allow Afreximbank to raise its solvency ratio to 24% in 2015, after a growth to 22% by the end of 2014 and 20% in 2013. But the commitments of shareholders have to effectively translate into liquidity.

Jean Louis Ekra, for his part, indicated that since the opening of the Abidjan regional bureau of Afreximbank in May 2015, transactions under review by the bank for the benefit of the Ivorian economy have progressed and have to this day reached USD 275 million. But the visit to Abidjan by the Afreximbank delegation was first and foremost to officially introduce Benedict Oramah (photo), the new president of the bank, to the authorities of the country.