SMART MONEY

DEG Consortium Gives Co-op Bank 100-Million-Dollar Confidence Vote

KALU MENGOJul 17, 20231k

The DEG-led Consortium and Co-op Bank teams after signing the $100 million financing agreement. From left: Wilfred Apunda - Senior Investment Manager DEG, Michael Fischer - Director Financial Institutions Africa at DEG, Caroline Karimi – Director Finance & Strategy Co-op Bank, Monika Beck - Member of DEG’s Management Board, Dr Gideon Muriuki - Group Managing Director & CEO Co-op Bank, Judy Kinyanjui – Investment Director Norfund and Antje Steiner – Regional Director East Africa at KfW DEG. Partly hidden at the back are William Nyaoke – Regional Director East Africa, Norfund and Sam Kibugi, Company Secretary Co-op Bank. (PHOTO: Courtesy)

The Co-operative Bank of Kenya has received a long term 7-year funding facility amounting to USD 100 million (Ksh14 Billion) from a consortium of financial institutions led by DEG for on-lending mainly to Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya.

The loan is a tier II facility that has already been fully disbursed, where DEG acted as Lender, Mandated Lead Arranger and Facility Agent while the Consortium included the Africa Agriculture & Trade Investment Fund (AATIF), Symbiotics and European Development Finance Institutions namely Finnfund, Norfund and the co-financing facility European Financing Partners (EFP).

Co-operative Bank of Kenya Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr Gideon Muriuki, lauded the DEG-led initiative as timely against the backdrop of the great need to better support Co-op Bank’s business customers.

“The funding by DEG and the Consortium is most timely in view of the great need to better support our business customers. In addition, the long-term tenure of the facility has significantly boosted the bank’s ability to offer solutions that are better structured to fulfil the long-term financing needs of MSMEs.”

Monika Beck, Member of DEG’s Management Board said: “By acting as lead arranger and providing the subordinated loan to Co-op Bank, DEG contributes to the further development of Kenya’s financial sector and the wider economy through the creation of jobs and local income, all geared towards the attainment of Sustainability Development Goals.”

Co-op Bank continues to leverage its strong balance sheet to access funding and allied partnerships with global development partners to enhance the bank’s opportunities for growth and overall performance as here under:

• Enhance the bank’s assets and liability match where long-term loans can be
financed using the long-term debt.
• Diversify the bank’s asset and funding portfolio.
• Expand the bank’s client base especially among MSMEs.
• Boost the bank’s competitive position on account of affordable lending.

The DEG-led facility is a significant support to the bank especially at this point when the bank’s digitization journey is moving full steam ahead with the recent transition to a new, robust core banking system.

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