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Johannesburg - Standard Bank will assist its strategic partner, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to raise R10bn to support the development of South Africa's power generation infrastructure, according to Standard Bank group CEO Sim Tshabalala.
Standard Bank, acting as arranging and structuring adviser, will assist ICBC in raising up to R10bn from the financial markets over a five-year period.
Tshabalala said the partnership will jointly support up to 100 new infrastructure and industrial projects across Africa, ranging from resources and transportation, to electricity and telecommunications, to manufacturing and industrial parks.
“Strategic cooperation between ICBC and Standard Bank has enabled us to arrange more than $7bn in loans to African countries and to complete over $14bn of transactions that have brought equity and debt capital from Chinese corporations and financial institutions to Africa,” said Tshabalala.
“While much of our joint work so far has been in corporate and investment banking, ICBC and Standard Bank are increasingly exploring opportunities to expand cooperation into new areas of business."
In retail banking they are working together to introduce new solutions to facilitate personal remittances between South Africa and China, for instance.
“In many cases, Chinese investment and trade have played a crucial role in supporting economic growth and infrastructure development. Now that several African countries- for example, Ethiopia and Mozambique - are among the fastest-growing in the world, China is very well positioned to benefit from this remarkable growth and to further support and encourage it,” said Tshabalala.
He added that ICBC had identified Africa as an important growth market long before it was fashionable for global banks to do so.
