Why We Arranged $100m Deal for MainOne- Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria’s quest for strong business growth and its believe to ensure a turning point for domestic growth and development of the local economy, was behind its lead arrangement for the $100 million facility for MainOne Cable Limited.

Bola Adesola, managing director/chief executive officer of the wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank Plc, United Kingdom,, said that the financial institution was proud to invest in MainOne Cable as the company was one of the largest telecommunications operations in West Africa.

The deal is targeted at refinancing MainOne Cable’s existing debt and financing its ongoing capital expenditure for the company’s network expansion and ancillary services.

“We believe this is a turning point for domestic growth and development in our local economy. Our established footprint in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, along with our long history of supporting trade flows to and from these regions, position us well to provide vital funding to growing companies in growing economies,” Adesola said.

Also, Remi Oni, head of Client Coverage at Standard Chartered Nigeria, said: “Standard Chartered is very pleased about the opportunity to arrange this financing in conjunction with other banks.

“MainOone has built a strong brand ubiquitous with reliable, high quality and professional service. The financing is a testament of our commitment to be here for good.”

For the bank, this is a landmark transaction, marking its first submarine cable financing in the country.

However, Funke Opeke, chief executive officer of MainOne Cable explained that the implementation of the agreement with bank and others, will enable MainOne expand its services across Nigeria and West Africa.

She stated that key to MainOne’s growth strategy and vision is to ensure that it continues to deploy infrastructure required to make its services available and affordable to institutional customers across its markets.

Specifically, the company is currently building a tier-three data centre and deploying an extensive fibre-optic network around Lagos.

According to her, “access to affordable broadband services will enable Nigeria and other countries in West Africa continue to grow their economies at a faster pace.”

The financial institution is listed on both London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, ranks among the top 25 companies in the FTSE-100 by market capitalisation, while its Group derives more than 90 per cent of its operating income and profits from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, through wholesale and consumer banking businesses.