Financial services group Atlas Mara has secured a $200 million loan facility from an American firm aimed at capacitating its Africa-focused BancABC subsidiaries.

According to the agreement signed between Atlas Mara, which acquired 95,8 percent in BancABC’s operations in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania in 2014, and ExWorks African businesses will use the money to buy goods made in the United States.

The move is also aimed at accelerating Atlas Mara’s growth strategy and capacity to contribute meaningfully to the communities they operate in.

Atlas Mara chief executive John Vitalo said that the trade finance represents a key facet of business banking, adding that local and regional banks often lack the access to capital necessary for on-lending to companies.

“Atlas Mara’s partnership with ExWorks will enable us to further improve access to trade finance for our customers while also delivering value-added services like logistics handling and the structuring of favourable trading terms,”
he said.

In addition to financing, ExWorks will offer a wide range of complementary services such as logistics handling, risk mitigation and the structuring of trade terms.

Information gathered by Business Live show that African buyers of US goods who originally might not be able to secure the necessary finance can receive favourable credit terms that facilitate growth and on time repayment while US suppliers can grow their addressable market and receive immediate payment.

ExWorks chief executive John McAdams said in order to deepen the US — Africa trade relationship, there was need to build Africa’s capacity to trade, which includes access to finance.

“In this way, we will create new customers for US goods, while enabling sustainable economic development that will improve people’s lives and reduce poverty in Africa,” he said.

Atlas Mara was born out of a combination of Bob Diamond’s Atlas Merchant Capital LLC and African entrepreneur, Ashish Thakkar’s Mara Group Holdings Limited.

Their strategy is to create a Sub Saharan Africa’s premier financial services institution through a combination of its experience, expertise and access to capital, liquidity and funding.

Its goals are to combine the best of global institutional knowledge with extensive local insights and to support economic growth and financial inclusion in the countries in which it operates.

ExWorks Capital offers export trade financing solutions to US exporters and qualified international buyers using Ex-Im Bank and SBA loan guarantees, private insurance, letters of credit and other products.

Source: Daily News