FBN Capital Facilitates N89bn For Accugas

First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Capital Ltd said it has facilitated the closing of up to $445 million syndicated medium term facility for Accugas Ltd.

Accugas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven Energy International Ltd, is the gas processing, marketing and distribution arm of Seven Energy.

The medium term facility is being used to refinance Accugas’ existing debt portfolio, its working capital requirements and also to fund medium term capital expenditure. The facility, which was structured to optimize the borrower’s capital structure, was closed with a consortium of local and international banks, with FBN Capital acting as the structuring bank, modelling bank, initial technical bank and global facility coordinator.

Accugas focuses on sales and marketing, processing and distribution of gas to the Nigerian domestic market. Through the development of gas infrastructure, Accugas serves to assist its upstream partners to monetize their gas resources.

Accugas owns the Uquo gas processing facility, which processes gas from the Uquo and Stubb Creek Fields, and a network of pipelines linking the processing facility to the Ibom Power station, the Calabar NIPP power station, the Unicem cement factory, the Notore fertilizer plant and the Alaoji NIPP power station. Additionally, the acquisition of East Horizon Gas Pipeline adds 128km pipeline running from the Ukanafun Junction to Mfamosing, just outside Calabar, to the group’s infrastructure assets.

Mr Kayode Akinkugbe, Managing Director of FBN Capital, said: “FBN Capital is very proud of the instrumental role it played in assisting Accugas to structure and arrange this financing for the borrower. The successful signing of this financing shows that lenders see Accugas business as a catalyst for economic development in Nigeria.”

Speaking on the transaction, Mr Patrick Mgbenwelu, Director and Head, Debt Solutions, FBN Capital said: “We appreciate the responsibility and trust Accugas has once again placed in FBN Capital to assist in structuring and arranging this financing which includes refinancing of its existing debt, raising working capital funding and also additional funding to support its medium term capital expenditure programme.

“The FBN Capital team remains committed to launching similar robustly structured financings in the local market and we look forward to further strengthening our relationship with Accugas as it realizes its broader corporate goals and objectives.”

On his own part, Bruce Burrows, Chief Financial Officer of Seven Energy, noted: “We commend the professional and efficient work by FBN Capital team, along with all other parties involved in this transaction. We are pleased to have partners who support our vision to bring gas to Nigeria’s domestic market for power generation and industrial consumption.”

-Leadership

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