Deals
Citigroup, Top Africa Loan Arranger, Sees M&A Boosting Lending
- U.S. lender was sub-Saharan Africa’s top loan arranger in 2016
- Bank helped to arrange $3.5 billion in borrowing last year
This article is for subscribers only.
Citigroup Inc., sub-Saharan Africa’s top loan arranger in 2016, expects increased sovereign demand and mergers and acquisitions to drive lending in the region this year as low valuations spur deals.
“Lots of financing activity is expected in 2017,” Aziz Rahman, the bank’s head of corporate finance in the region said in an interview on Monday. Loans to sovereigns and corporates will increase as M&A deals rise and infrastructure spending picks up, he said. A total of $34.3 billion in loans were arranged for borrowers in the region last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.