First City Monument Bank, FCMB Ltd and Acugas Ltd have entered into a financing agreement that will see the bank and four others lend $445 million, (about N87.7billion) to Acugas to develop gas infrastructure in Nigeria.
Other lenders involved in the deal include FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank for Africa, Union Bank, FBN Capital, FCMB Capital Market and Ecobank.
Speaking to journalists at the signing ceremony in Lagos on the significance of the deal to the bank, FCMB’s Executive Director, Tolu Shonibu said the deal provided the bank the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the development of the energy sector in Nigeria.
He said: “It’s not so much about the importance (of the deal) to FCMB. It is about the client, Acugas that is actively making ongoing contributions to the development of Nigerian energy space. The investment they are making in gas infrastructure is critical to the country’s energy development.
It has been said more often that one of the challenges we face is gas infrastructure and that is what Acugas is doing and for us at FCMB group, this is a very exciting opportunity for us to be able to support a company that actually focuses on Nigeria’s infrastructure development to boost energy.”
