Nigeria raises stake in Shelter Afrique with N3 billion additional capital
THE Federal Government has increased its stake in pan- African housing development financier, Shelter Afrique, with about N3.003 billion, or $ 7.15 million in additional capital subscription.
The additional capital subscription at conservative official dollar/ naira of N420 to $ 1, places Nigeria just one per cent behind top shareholder, Kenya, a news medium based in the East African country, busiweek, stated yesterday.
Shelter Afrique, headquartered in Kenya, says it’s the only pan- African finance institution that exclusively supports the development of housing and urban development in Africa.
The organisation is a partnership of 44 African governments, the African Development Bank ( AFDB) and the Africa Reinsurance Corporation ( AfricaRe). Added to Nigeria’s new payment, the company also received more capital subscriptions from Eswatini formerly Swaziland and Burkina Faso.
The increase in stake now takes Nigeria’s shareholding to 15.8 per cent, one- percentage point behind top shareholder Kenya, which currently stands at 16.85 per cent.
The other top three shareholders of Shelter Afrique whose shareholdings have now changed include AFDB, which now stands at 12.16 per cent, down from 12.71 per cent; Mali at 5.3 per cent, down from 5.54 per cent; and Ghana at 5.05 per cent, down from 5.28 per cent.
Acting Managing Director and Chief Finance Officer of the organisation, Kingsley Muwowo, was quoted to have lauded the government of Nigeria for its show of confidence in the institution.
He said the move now places Nigeria in a good position to become the largest shareholder in Shelter Afrique when the country fully meets its capital commitment. “We are grateful to the government of Nigerian for their continued support and the importance they have placed on affordable housing.
“We are especially grateful to the Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Minister for State Abubakar Aliyu and Minister for Finance Dr.
Zainab Ahmed, for their long- term support and for honouring this significant payment. “Additionally, we appreciate Nigeria’s active shareholder and board participation,” Muwowo was quoted to have said.
The relationship between Nigeria and Shelter Afrique has been growing in recent years. In September 2020, the institution received $ 9.4 million additional capital subscription from Nigeria.
Other countries that have so far ramped up capital subscription in the PanAfrican housing development financier in 2022 are Eswatini and Burkina Faso which paid $ 317,854.54 and $ 34,610.00 respectively, for additional stakes. “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 fundraising efforts to raise additional debt capital required to support project pipeline, which now stands at $ 1 billion across 44 member countries,” he 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.