Standard Chartered Kenya has announced the closure of the KES 15 billion Sustainable Linked Loan (SLL) with Safaricom PLC. This is one of the largest deals ever undertaken in Africa and is the first Kenya Shilling denominated SLL in the market.
Standard Chartered Kenya acted as the Global Coordinator, Sustainability Coordinator and Mandated Lead Arranger for the deal. The deal was announced during a multi-sectoral event held on the side-lines of the Africa Climate Summit currently ongoing in Nairobi. The deal signals the ongoing emphasis on building sustainable financing models in line with global commitments to meet net zero targets.
This morning, Standard Chartered convened stakeholders to discuss the opportunities for Kenya to leapfrog towards becoming a low carbon economy. The discussions brough together leading industry thought leaders, policy makers and clients of the bank to discuss opportunities for sustainable finance, carbon markets and debt structures for ESG structures across Africa.
“We need dramatic shifts in investment, reforms and supplemental policies in order to attain a low carbon future. Despite the fast-growing sustainable finance market, Africa is yet to attract the trillions of dollars of investment needed per year to reach net-zero in a timely manner,” said Kariuki Ngari, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya.
Aside from leveraging the emerging sustainable finance opportunities, countries can also tap into self-financing options. Recent research from Standard Chartered which highlights an increasing number of investors in growth regions are becoming more conscious about sustainability issues facing their home markets and beyond. The report indicates that Kenya has the potential to tap into USD19 billion of retail sustainable investment potential by 2030.