Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) won the Investment Bank of the Year award for the fifth year running in the African Banker Awards 2017. The award is made by the African Banker magazine to the most innovative investment bank operating in Africa.

RMB received the accolade at an award ceremony on 23rd May 2017 to recognize the innovative deals it has concluded in Africa encompassing, amongst others, debt and loan capital markets, project and structured finance, resource finance, leveraged finance, mergers and acquisitions and IPOs.

Some of the deals which helped RMB win the award include: the US$474-million financing of the Kathu Solar Park, the largest inflation-linked debt tranche for a project in South Africa; debt structuring and arranger for the Amandi Energy power plant in Ghana representing the largest debt commitment to Africa by the CDC, a UK development finance institution; the introduction of Dollar
Custodial Certificates on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the first time a US Treasury bond has been listed on an exchange; a bridge-to-bond facility for the African Export-Import Bank’s $750-million dollar-denominated Eurobond; lead arranger to Remgro’s £350-million exchangeable bond, the group’s first capital markets transaction, as well as underwriting its $678-million rights issue, the largest underwritten rights offer done by a sole bank on the continent.

“As an African corporate and investment bank, our knowledge and expertise on the African continent, combined with our global reach, gives us the ability to structure some of Africa’s most innovative deals,” says Head of Investment Banking for Africa, Ngugi Kiuna. “The award for Best Investment Bank in Africa for the fifth consecutive year means we are delivering on our mandate to provide our clients with innovative solutions, some of which are also market firsts.”

RMB’s presence in 12 African countries has enabled an extensive deal footprint across more than 35 African countries, as well as on-the ground knowledge of a variety of jurisdictions.