By: OrePulse

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a $975 million financing facility to help fund a management buyout of Oryx Energies SA, the holding company of fuel trading and distribution business Addax Energy SA, the bank announced.

Under the facility, Afreximbank is acting as sole lender, facility agent, security trustee and escrow agent for the transaction, the bank said. A management buyout typically means a company's existing leadership team acquires a controlling stake in the business, taking it out of its previous ownership structure; as facility agent, Afreximbank will administer the loan on behalf of lenders, while its security trustee and escrow agent roles involve holding collateral and transaction funds on the lenders' behalf.

Afreximbank said the facility is intended to support African ownership of energy infrastructure and to help keep economic value generated by Africa's energy trade within the continent. In a statement announcing the approval, the bank said the deal strengthens energy security across Africa and supports what it described as the continent's energy sovereignty and development priorities.

The bank said the facility builds on its existing record of financing Africa's energy sector, which it said has included previous investments across both upstream oil and gas production and refining capacity.

Oryx Energies chief executive Moussa Diao said the buyout marks "an important milestone" for the company. He said the transaction would not have been possible without Afreximbank's backing, and that Oryx Energies intends to use the move to expand its energy trading operations and infrastructure development across African markets.

Afreximbank President and Chairman George Elombi said the facility supports the bank's broader mandate to promote structural transformation in African economies. He said the deal is designed to increase African ownership of strategic economic assets, create opportunities for local entrepreneurs, support jobs, and keep more of the economic value generated by the continent's energy sector within Africa.

Oryx Energies operates through its subsidiary Addax Energy as a fuel distributor and energy trader with operations across multiple African markets. Afreximbank's statement did not detail the full post-buyout ownership structure of Oryx Energies, nor did it specify what portion of the transaction's total value the $975 million facility represents or identify any other sources of financing involved in the deal.

Afreximbank said the new facility builds on financing it has previously extended across Africa's energy sector, including upstream oil and gas production and refining investments, which the bank has presented as part of a broader mandate to support African ownership of strategic assets and to retain more of the continent's economic value within Africa.