Oando secures $476m facility from ten financial institutions in Nigeria

Integrated energy solutions provider Oando has secured a N4.6bn ($476m) facility from ten financial institutions in Nigeria.

Coordinated by lead arranger Access Bank, the financing is a five-year medium term note (MTN) at Nibor + 200 bps as a crucial part of our strategic restructuring plans.

Oando group chief executive Wale Tinubu said: "This is the pivotal leg in our group restructuring plan of growth via the upstream business, deleverage, the disposal of $350m in assets’ value in 2016 and our return to profitability in 2016, driven by our dollar earning oil export and trading activities.

"The company now stands diversified with higher weighted dollar denominated earnings, an optimised and restructured balance sheet with lower cost of capital and longer tenors."

The institutions that offered financing are Access Bank, Diamond Bank, Ecobank, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, Keystone Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, UBA Bank, Union Bank and Zenith Bank.

Oando said that the transaction will further signify the commitment from Nigerian banking institutions to support sustained growth and development of the oil and gas sector in the country.

"With the upturn in the global oil prices to levels above $50 per barrel, we now look forward to the successes of 2016, having ridden out the storm," Tinubu added.

Last month, Oando E&P, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oando, has acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Oando Energy Resources (OER).

OER has a suite of producing, development and exploration assets in the Gulf of Guinea (predominantly in Nigeria).