ShafPress

Nairobi, Kenya- 21 September 2021 – Pan-African housing development financier Shelter Afrique has fully paid commercial debts owed to eight lenders, giving the company the leverage to underwrite new debt.

In 2018, Shelter Afrique signed a Debt Restructuring Agreement with the eight lenders – six DFIs and two commercial banks – to restructure its debt with a new 5 – Year tenor to run from June 2019 to June 2024.

The USD186 million (including accrued interest) owed to African Development Bank, Agence Française de Developpement, Commercial Bank of Africa, European Investment Bank, German KFW, Ghana International Bank, CFA-Banque Ouest Africaine de Development, and Islamic Corporation for Development was fully repaid three years ahead of schedule.

“Despite Debt Restructuring Agreement giving us a window to make full loan repayment by June 2024, we successfully repaid all the loans by June 2021. This was possible due to the new structures we put in place to deal with bad debts and loan recoveries as part of our turnaround plan. This now affords us the ability to underwrite new business and debt without constraints and legacy matters. For instance, based on our current Equity Capital base of USD 155M and a debt-equity ratio of 0%, we can instantly raise new debt of up to USD 465 million,” Shelter Afrique Group Managing Director and CEO Andrew Chimphondah said.

The company has also repaid a bond floated on the Nairobi Stock Exchange between 2013 and 2018.

Return to market

Mr Chimphondah noted that following the development, Shelter Afrique now plans to return to the capital market to raise KES125 billion (USD1.25 billion) in local-currency bonds by the end of the year.“With the debts fully retired, we now intend to mobilise a local-currency equivalent of USD500 million each from Nigeria and East Africa, as well as USD250 million from French-speaking African nations. These will be crucial in funding our demand-side pipeline of as much as USD1 billion which we are currently developing,” Chimphondah said

Mr Chimphondah added that besides the bonds, Shelter Afrique was exploring further shareholder financing, noting that the Company was already in talks with some keen organisations and countries who share a similar commitment to affordable housing in Africa.

“In the past few months, we have raised a significant amount from our current shareholders, admitted a new shareholder (Fonds de Solidarité Africain -FSA), and resolved to open a new class C group of shareholding for non-African entities to widen our shareholding and capital resource bases,” Mr Chimphondah said.

Nairobi – Kenya: 17 August 2021: The African Solidarity Fund (ASF), based in Niamey, Republic of Niger, has become the 47th shareholder of Shelter-Afrique by subscribing to the company’s capital. This has increased pan-African financing for housing development.

Speaking at the signing of the instrument of accession by FSA in Nairobi, Shelter-Afrique Chairman, Dr. Steve Mainda, said the decision to admit the African Solidarity Fund as a shareholder followed the unanimous approval of shareholders at the 40th Annual General Meeting of the Company held in June in Yaoundé, Cameroon. 

“I wish to thank the Annual General Meeting for passing the resolution to admit FSA as the 47th shareholder.  I also wish to thank the management and staff of Shelter-Afrique for achieving the objectives set by the Board of Directors. Let me thank FSA for identifying a common vision and sharing our zeal to develop Africa and especially to provide financial services to propel African economies,” said Dr. Mainda. 

“We are pleased to welcome the African Solidarity Fund into the Shelter-Afrique family. This is a remarkable step that gives us assurance and great comfort that our vision of providing decent and affordable homes to all Africans is a vision that is not only shared by others, but is worthy and necessary,” said Mr Andrew Chimphondah, Chief Executive Officer of Shelter-Afrique Group.

“The pan-African vocation, vision and mission of the African Solidarity Fund are similar to those of Shelter Afrique and we are pleased to now be part of the Shelter Afrique family. The intervention techniques of the two institutions are complementary and we look forward to working together to contribute to the availability of decent housing to all Africans by facilitating geographical and financialaccessibility,”said ASF Director General, Mr. Ahmadou Abdoulaye Diallo.

Share categories

Shelter-Afrique’s share capital is held by two groups of Shareholders composed of 44 African countries including Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, etc. Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in “Class A”; and the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa-Re) in “Class B”.

The African Solidarity Fund now joins the African Development Bank and the African Reinsurance Corporation in the category of “Class B” shareholders.

“Our goal is to bring on board the remaining 10 African countries that are not yet members of this major pan-African development finance institution, focusing immediately on South Sudan, Egypt, South Africa and Ethiopia. We are also working to bring more African institutions and companies into the ‘B’ category and to broaden our shareholding to include additional non-African investors in the ‘C’ category, which we have already created,” concluded Chimphondah.

 

 

Nairobi:  04 August 2021- The Government of Tanzania has increased its stake in Shelter Afrique after paying USD2.7 million in additional capital, the pan-African housing development financier has disclosed.

The Additional stake now takes Tanzania’s shareholding to 1.54% up from 0.3% held previously.

Effectively, the contribution now reduces ownership of the top three shareholders with Kenya’s, Nigeria’s and African Development Bank’s shareholdings now standing at 17.78%, 13.27% and 12.83%, respectively.

Thanking the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, Shelter Afrique Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Chimphondah said it was gratifying so see the unwavering support renewed confidence by shareholders.  

“We thank the government of Tanzania for choosing to increase her stake in Shelter Afrique despite the prevailing condition, and in particular the Ministers for Housing and finance Honourable William Lukuvi and Honourable Mwigulu Nchemba for making the disbursements – It’s a vote of confidence in the Company.  We are also grateful to other shareholders who have increased their stakes recently,” Mr. Chimphondah said.

In addition to the Tanzania’s contribution the Company has also received additional capital contributions from Kenya (USD 9.92m), Cameroon (USD 3,529,801.29) Mali (USD 2,062,994), Rwanda (USD 1.1m), Uganda (USD 0.08m), Togo (USD 0.58m), Swaziland (USD 0.32m), Ivory Coast (USD 0.57m), and Democratic Republic of Congo (USD 0.5m), bringing the total additional capital receipts to $20.69m within the last six months of 2021.

“We also wish to thank several other shareholders such as Namibia, Zimbabwe Morocco, and Swaziland, Cameroon, Kenya, DRC, Mali, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Rwanda and Togo for their positive response to the call for recapitalization, this continues to show confidence in the strategy of The Company” Mr. Chimphondah said.

Shelter Afrique approved financing in excess of USD 52,246,000 in Tanzania. The Company invested equity into the Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company (TMRC) in 2014 and has remained an active member.