BY ROSEMARY IWUALA
The Federal Government of Nigeria has raised its shareholding in Shelter Afrique with $7.15 million additional capital subscription.
The additional stake takes Nigeria’s shareholding to 15.8 percent, one percent behind top shareholder Kenya, which currently stands at 16.85 percent, Shelter Afrique said in a statement on Monday.
The pan-Africa housing development financier, which received a $9.4 million additional capital subscription from Nigeria in September 2020, said the shareholdings of other top three shareholders have also changed. They include African Development Bank (AfDB), whose shareholding fell to 12.16 percent from 12.71 percent, Mali at 5.3 percent down from 5.54 percent, and Ghana at 5.05 percent down from 5.28 percent.
It said Swaziland and Burkina Faso have also recently ramped up their capital subscription in Shelter Afrique with payment of $317,854.54 and $34,610.00, respectively, for additional stakes.
The company commended the Nigerian government for its show of confidence in the institution, saying the move has placed Nigeria in a good position to become the largest shareholder in Shelter-Afrique.
“We are grateful to the government of Nigeria for their continued support and the importance they have placed on affordable housing,” Kingsley Muwowo, chief finance officer, Shelter Afrique, said.
He expressed special gratitude to Nigeria’s ministers for Works and Housing, and Finance for their long-term support and for honouring this significant payment while appreciating the country’s active shareholder and board participation.
“So far, we have received $7,504,295.45 in additional capital from member states within the last six months of 2022. We are grateful to our shareholders for this much-needed capital injection which will go a long way in strengthening the capital structure of the company to support the ongoing fund-raising efforts to raise additional debt capital required to support the project pipeline which now stands at US$1 billion across 44 member countries,” Muwowo said.
Shelter Afrique recently completed a debut N46 billion ($110.7 million) series 1 fixed rate senior unsecured bond issuance in Nigeria’s capital market under its N200 billion ($481.3 million) bond issuance programme for housing and urban development in Nigeria. It plans similar bond issuance in East African markets, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
