Best in Africa for third year running

For the third year in a row, Deutsche Bank has been named Best Foreign Investment Bank in Africa at the EMEA Finance Magazine’s 2021 African Banking Awards. Furthermore, in recognition of its integral role in supporting the African economy, the jury also named Deutsche Bank as the Best Foreign Investment Bank in Benin and Rwanda in addition to the Best Loan House in Ghana.

According to Christopher Moore, publisher of EMEA Finance magazine: “The bank has really shown how its universal investment banking services support all its clients. We are particularly impressed with the structured finance and trade services provided alongside the capital market activities. Supporting major projects and driving critical infrastructure forward is so, very important in times of crisis, and here Deutsche Bank particularly shines”

Kees Hoving, Co-Chief Executive Officer for Middle East and Africa (MEA), said: “We are proud to be named the best foreign investment bank in Africa for the third year by EMEA Finance. The bank’s success in Africa is driven by our continuous focus and drive to provide exceptional advice and solutions to our clients on the continent.”

The bank has a proven track record of arranging and underwriting bonds and loans for sovereign and sovereign-owned clients in Africa and possesses unique, market-leading structuring capabilities to deliver on important development finance-backed (DFI) transactions for sovereign clients; especially for critical infrastructure projects. Since January 2018, eight structured financing transactions with partial credit guarantee or credit insurance from a DFI have been executed in five different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with over EUR 1.6 billion lent in the region. The latest transaction was a 10-year, 203 million euro amortising two social loans, which benefit from 95 percent insurance cover by the African Trade Insurance agency (ATI), aimed to fund four health and two transportation projects in Ghana.

In addition, Deutsche Bank works with Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) and multilateral organisations to provide cost-effective financing solutions for sovereigns and sovereign-owned institutions that may have struggled to access the traditional capital markets for funding in a cost-effective way. Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank financed the rehabilitation and expansion of the Keta Water Treatment Plant and the redevelopment of the Takoradi in Ghana. Also in Ghana, the Bank financed the construction of a 100 kilometer stretch of the Western Railway Line in partnership with Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN), Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) and Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (ECIC).

Furthermore, the bank is one of the top-ranked international banks for issuing bonds in Africa and has consistently been top ranked across all Sub-Saharan Africa Sovereign, Supranational and Agency bond league tables over the past 10 years (Dealogic). Since last year, Deutsche Bank led major bond issuances for AngloGold Ashanti, the Republic of Rwanda in addition to the first green issuance by the Republic of Egypt to name a few. The bank also acted as Paying Agent on most of those transactions.

Maryam Khosrowshahi, Chairperson of Supranational, Sovereign and Agencies (SSA) Origination and Co-Head Africa Coverage Deutsche Bank said: “We are proud EMEA Finance has recognised of our achievements for the third year and thankful to our clients’ continuous trust in our capabilities and delivery. Against the very challenging backdrop throughout the year due to the pandemic, we were able to support on one hand critical infrastructure development financings focusing on the health sector and related infrastructure, all yielding social benefits, and on the other hand international bond issuances for budget support to various sovereigns. Our commitment to Africa remains unwavering and we are continuously looking for new solutions and structures to be able to offer the most competitive financing and terms to our clients.”

In addition to Best Foreign Investment Bank in Africa award last year, Deutsche Bank was named Best Foreign Investment Bank in Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon and Niger by the magazine. Also, the bank received the “Excellence in Leadership in Africa” Award from Euromoney Magazine during its 2020 Awards for Excellence cycle.