Kineden Commodities Secures Nearly €60m Offshore Financing

Kineden Commodities, one of the largest Ivorian sustainable cocoa traders, has secured nearly €60 million from a pool of international banks to cover part of its financing needs for the next three cocoa seasons.

The cocoa firm founded in 2014 and a privately held Ivorian company specialising in cocoa trading, will allocate €20 million of the total financing package to the 2023-2024 season.

Kineden, with UTZ and FairTrade certifications, is a major player in the certified sustainable cocoa sector, exporting over 50,000 tonnes of beans annually.

This structured financing, which legal documentation was prepared by the American law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, will enable Kineden to optimise its funding costs, diversify into agricultural processing, and most importantly, secure its supply chain in a context marked by record-high cocoa prices.

Kineden was advised by Obara Capital, Africa’s first hedge fund, under the leadership of its managing director Bernard Ayitee who coordinated the syndicated financing by a pool of international banks headed by EBI SA (ECOBANK Group).

Led by a former executive of ECOM (ZAMACOM), Kineden has distinguished itself within the competitive landscape of Ivorian cocoa trading through its operational excellence and long-term commitment to cocoa farmers. In the current context of heightened competition for cocoa bean supplies, Kineden aims to use these resources to secure its bean purchases at a time when cocoa prices are reaching unprecedented highs.

For Kineden’s Managing Director, Stéphane Apoque, “The scale of this fifth consecutive offshore fundraising reflects the attractiveness of the Ivorian cocoa industry following the sector’s reform and is a testament to the confidence international banks have in Kineden’s robust business model. These optimised funds send a strong signal to the Coffee and Cocoa Council, which, under the leadership of its Director General Yves BIRAHIMA KONE, is working to develop local entrepreneurs capable of mobilising the necessary funds to fulfil the government’s ambitions of industrialising the sector and improving incomes for Ivorian farmers. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the unwavering support of the ECOBANK Group and encourage other African financial institutions, such as the AfDB (the African Development Bank) and BOAD (the West African Development Bank), to follow suit in financing African agro-industrial companies.”

Moukaramou Chanou Alao, Managing Director of Ecobank International, the lead bank, stated, “We are delighted to continue supporting Kineden Commodities in its efforts to promote sustainable and high-quality cocoa production. This partnership reflects our commitment to supporting local businesses in their growth and contributing to the social and economic development of the region.”

For Olivier Raiga-Clemenceau, Head of Trade Finance & Financial Institutions at Banque Chaabi du Maroc (BCDM), “This transaction was an opportunity to extend BCP Group’s efforts to support the leading Ivorian cocoa producers while reinforcing our collaboration with Ecobank International.”

As this marks Kineden’s fifth success in as many years on the international financial markets, Bernard Ayitee, Chief Executive Officer of Obara Capital, expressed his satisfaction in “pushing the boundaries of what was previously achievable in international financing to equip an Ivorian agro-industrial champion with the means to fulfil its ambitions.”

For Sena Agbayissah, Partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed responsible for the transaction, “This transaction is an excellent example of the added value that appropriate legal tools can bring to modernising the financing of African agricultural value chains.”

This significant financing capacity is expected to strengthen further, Kineden aims to diversify into processing and expand its trading activities into other agricultural commodities notably cashew nuts within the Ivorian agro-industrial sector.