Atlas Mara ties up P2.2bn facility for BancABC
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday March 18, 2016 14:12
Through the agreement that was between Atlas Mara and ExWorks, African businesses are supposed to buy goods made in the US while accelerating Atlas Mara’s growth strategy and capacity to contribute meaningfully to the communities they operate in.
Atlas Mara acquired 95.8 percent in BancABC’s operations in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania in 2014.
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.
According to a press release, 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. “A variety of finance models are available to African businesses including long-term finance and short term finance supported by a guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of the US, Ex-Im Bank,” read the press statement.
The CEO of Atlas Mara, John Vitalo said that this trade finance represents a key facet of business banking adding that local and regional banks often lack the access to capital; liquidity and funding required underpinning this product line.
“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,” Vitalo 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.