Standard Chartered Bank has been awarded two prestigious Global Trade Review (GTR) awards for trade innovation. The bank received the awards for the best deals in Finance Transaction for pandemic relief in Africa and Tanzania Light Railway Project Financing.
For the first award, Standard Chartered was recognized for its financing for Trade and Development Bank (TDB) in Kenya to help in mitigating the risks emanating from the global coronavirus pandemic. The deal covered in part, the importation of emergency medical goods and services, the construction of healthcare facilities and the establishment of new trade finance lines for governments and corporates. The Ksh. 43,897,817,670 (€334.4 million) loan to the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is backed by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
The involvement of MIGA meant TDB was able to access an innovative long-term facility from the syndicated loan market. This is despite talks taking place against a backdrop of a conservative lending market for longer tenors. This product extension gives MIGA the ability to leverage TDB’s credit rating to mobilize long-term funding to countries.
The second award recognized the Bank’s involvement in the Tanzania SGR project, project light rail. The Bank was the sole global co-ordinator and structuring bank for light rail project in Tanzania in which the lender gave the largest syndicated loan transaction in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 outside of the oil and gas sector.
Commenting on the awards, Birju Sanghrajka, Head of Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Kenya and East Africa at Standard Chartered Bank said, “We are delighted to win these 2021 GTR Leaders in Trade Innovation deal awards. Through structured financial solutions coupled with our extensive industry and structuring expertise, we have been at the forefront of offering tailormade solutions to suit customer-specific needs. Our unique network capabilities plays a crucial role as we continue to facilitate business and seamless transactions for clients’ cross-border payments, trade, investment and development needs as we aim to become the go-to bank for our clients.”
The GTR Leaders in Trade awards highlight excellence in the trade, commodity, supply chain and export finance, and fintech markets, recognizing pioneering institutions and top performers from around the world.