NCBA Bank lends Sh1.3 billion to a Mauritian real estate company

Markets & Finance

NCBA Bank lends Sh1.3 billion to a Mauritian real estate company

Tuesday December 13 2022

NCBA Bank Kenya lent $10.7 million (Sh1.3 billion) to Mauritius-based real estate firm Grit Services Limited in the year ended June, becoming the second bank to fund the property investor.

Grit Services Limited is the main subsidiary of Grit Real Estate Income Group which disclosed details of its global borrowing in its latest financial results.

Its other lenders include Nairobi-based Housing Finance Corporation which owed $2.3 million (Sh284 million) in the review period, representing 0.49 per cent of the group’s total bank debt.

Grit took two credit facilities from NCBA –$6.54 million (Sh803 million) and $4.15 million (Sh510.8 million).

The NCBA loans amount to 2.27 per cent of the multinational’s total debt.

ALSO READ: Equity, NCBA fight over Sh160 million Nairobi property

Grit’s biggest lender is Standard Bank Group which it owes $190 million (Sh23.3 billion).

The multinational said it recently consolidated its borrowings in multiple African markets in one of the largest debt restructurings on the continent and which was handled by Standard Bank.

“On 19 October 2022, the group concluded a syndicated sustainability linked cross-collateralised debt refinancing facility of up to $306 million (Sh37.5 billion), refinancing seven existing debt facilities of $279.1 million (Sh34.2 billion) of existing debt facilities across Mozambique, Zambia, Ghana and Senegal, agreed on a corporate revolving credit facility and secured additional funding for the future redevelopment of Club Med, Senegal,” Grit said.

“The landmark transaction, the largest sustainability-linked real estate largest debt transaction in Sub-Saharan Africa (ex-South Africa) creates for Grit increased diversification and tenor in its debt, with optimal funding costs and a scalable long-term debt solution.”

Standard Bank, the parent firm of Nairobi-based Stanbic Holdings— is the largest bank in Africa.

The real estate multinational has interests in Nairobi’s US embassy gated estate, Imperial Warehouse, Orbit Africa and Naivasha’s Buffalo Mall.

The company owns 50 per cent of the Buffalo Mall, 70 per cent of Orbit Africa and wholly owns the Imperial warehouse.

ALSO READ: Mauritian firm raises stake in US embassy estate maker

The company also recently leased two parcels of land to Tatu City for a total of $5.8 million (Sh712 million), initially holding the assets for capital gains.

Grit had earlier said it plans to increase its exposure to Kenya’s light industrial sector.

Land values in Tatu City are expected to grow over the years as more developments are completed and more residents and investors are drawn into the project.

→ [email protected]

Related Stories