Aluko & Oyebode, Nigeria's foremost full-service law firm, has acted as Nigerian legal counsel to Citibank, N.A., London Branch (Citi) and UK Export Finance (UKEF) on a £746 million (~ $1 billion) export finance facility extended to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). The transaction is one of the largest export credit agency-supported buyer credit facilities ever executed in West Africa and represents a defining moment for infrastructure financing on the continent.
TRANSACTION SIGNIFICANCE
The facility, arranged by Citi with cover provided by UKEF and reinsurance by Poland's export credit agency, Korporacja Ubezpieczeń Kredytów Eksportowych (KUKE), will finance the rehabilitation of two of Nigeria's most critical maritime gateways: the Lagos Port Complex (Apapa Quays) and Tin Can Island Port Complex. For UKEF, this marks its first large-scale infrastructure financing in Nigeria in close to a decade, a significant vote of confidence in Nigeria's regulatory environment and economic trajectory.
The transaction stands apart not only in its scale but in its structural sophistication, a multi-jurisdictional financing that required the seamless coordination of Nigerian law, English law, Polish law, and multiple institutional frameworks across the public and private sectors.
COMMENTARY
Oludare Senbore, Partner and Co-Head, Banking & Finance, goes on to comment on the transaction's significance for Nigeria's infrastructure financing market:
"This transaction reflects the increasing sophistication of export credit agency-backed structures as a financing tool for infrastructure development in Nigeria, and the depth of international institutional confidence in the country's economic direction. It is a significant development for Nigeria's maritime sector and, more broadly, for the continued growth of cross-border infrastructure financing in West Africa."
ALUKO & OYEBODE DEAL TEAM
The transaction was co-led by Kofo Dosekun (Of Counsel) and Oludare Senbore (Partner), with support from Funmilayo Otsemobor (Partner), Senior Associate Elijah Joseph, and Associates Esther Yugbovwre, Njideka Okafor and Kabir Bakare.
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