The facility was offered at an initial amount of $20 million but the international markets' response was overwhelming and resulting in an oversubscription of 2.5 times with the transaction closing at $50.5 million. Finance experts describe this as a clear indication of the strong confidence the international financial community has in the growing brand franchise and performance of the bank
The facility will be used for financing trade related transactions for the bank's customers with roll over options at maturity thus allowing long term funding.
Already, several major Nigerian corporate and multinational customers of the bank have signed on to partake in the facility due to its attractive and competitive terms and rates. Another upside of the transaction is that the bank is to achieve greater efficiency, better cost of funds, improved profitability and expanded markets.
According to the bank's Group Chief Executive, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, the transaction demonstrates the commitment of the bank to the promotion of business in Nigeria. He said the facility would provide considerable business opportunities and extension of the bank brand franchise beyond the shores of Nigeria, adding that it was in line with the bank's global vision of being No. 1 in Nigeria, No.5 in Africa and among the first 100 in the world.
The transaction reflects the increasing confidence the international finance community has in Intercontinental Bank with its huge potential of being a formidable global financial player. The bank has continued to receive global accolades for its stellar performance and increasing domestic franchise. FitchRating, the globally respected rating agency, assigned the bank the highest ratings in Nigeria with A+ (National) and B+ (Global). Also the bank recently received another global rating from Standard and Poor's (S&P) which assigned the bank 'BB-' long -and 'B' short term counterparty credit ratings.
In the same vein, The Banker Magazine, a subsidiary of the Financial Times of London, in its July 2007 edition of its TOP 1000 WORLD BANKS ranked Intercontin-ental as the second fastest growing bank in the world.
Source: This Day
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