Cairo, 13 Sept. 2013 – The Cote d’Ivoire based firm, SIMAT, is to receive a lifeline of 5.64 million Euros to finance the import of equipment for its services in the areas of marine and air transit and handling, according to the terms of a credit facility it received from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Cairo today.
The receivables-backed equipment import financing term-loan agreement, signed at the Afreximbank Headquarters by Stephane Eholie, Managing Director of SIMAT, and Jean-Louis Ekra, President of Afreximbank, will enable SIMAT to refinance existing debt, import equipment and pay local suppliers. SIMAT has five years to repay the loan, with a grace period of 12 months from the facility signature date.
Afreximbank was pleased at the opportunity to support an indigenous operator that was engaged in trying to develop business in Africa, said Mr. Ekra in a statement following the signing. Supporting such operators was a key objective the Bank had been fighting for.
Mr. Ekra urged SIMAT to justify Afreximbank’s confidence in the company by ensuring that it lived up to the terms of the facility and by striving even harder to develop its business to enable it enjoy even more such facilities from the Bank.
Mr. EHOLIE noted that SIMAT’s line of business was capital intensive and required long-term funding, and said that the credit facility would enable the company to leverage its services and allow it to make significant impact in its service delivery to its clients.
Created as a limited company in 2001 by private Ivorian investors, SIMAT provides comprehensive land services solutions for transport and logistics needs in the areas of sea transit, air transit, bundling/unbundling, handling, shipping, storage, and hinterland.
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About Afreximbank:
The African Export Import Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade. Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organization, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Since 1994, the Bank has approved more than $25 billion in credit facilities in support of African trade, including $3.71 billion in 2012. Afreximbank is headquartered in Cairo. For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com
Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra (middle) and SIMAT Managing Director Stephane Eholie sign the credit document while Afreximbank Executive Secretary George Elombi looks on.