Stanbic Bank Botswana has arranged a $35m bilateral loan to Botswana based multi-national ecotourism company, Wilderness Safaris, for the purchase of a new ecotourism company in Kenya and for further expansion across Africa.

The loan proceeds will be deployed over several years in multiple currencies thereby creating a natural hedge against foreign exchange risks.

The transaction is one of the largest corporate deals in Botswana in 2016, and was fully funded by Stanbic Bank Botswana on a bilateral basis.

Leina Gabaraane, Managing Director at Stanbic Bank Botswana, said: “Our footprint across 20 countries on the continent provided Wilderness Safaris with an on the ground banking partner with regional and local expertise in the countries in which they operate, as well as countries targeted for future expansion.” 

“The ability to provide long-term funding in multiple countries with currency flexibility in a short space of time, illustrates the complexity of the capital requirement needs of Africa’s emerging intra-continental service businesses,” he said.

Wilderness Safaris is one of Africa’s premier ecotourism companies and caters primarily to an international clientele.

Wilderness Safaris operates nearly 40 luxury safari camps across eight African countries.

The company is dual-listed with its primary listing in Botswana and secondary listing in Johannesburg.

Their strategy is to invest in luxury ecotourism opportunities in order to build sustainable conservation economies that combine conservation of Africa’s wildlife heritage with the sharing of benefits with rural communities.

They do this through working with governments and other stakeholders to entrench the true value of sustainable authentic ecotourism.

Keith Vincent, CEO of Wilderness Safaris, said: “In addition to reinvestment into flagship properties in Botswana and Namibia, the proceeds of this loan will be used for expansion across African markets such as Kenya and Rwanda.”

“This is in line with our group strategic vision, which is to invest in African tourism markets which offer authentic wildlife and safari experiences and where we feel our specific ecotourism model can have positive conservation and community impacts,” he said.

According to Stanbic Bank Botswana, leveraging a loan for deployment across many camps in different countries presents a unique set of complexities.

This is especially so since the funding will be required at short notice for use across a number of countries in support of its business operations – or to help address unexpected capital or liquidity events.

“This not only requires a bank on the ground in most of Wilderness Safaris countries of operation, but since the deployment of the loan will be a hands-on and a bespoke process, a bank with local personnel familiar with endemic operating and currency challenges in each environment was required,” said Gabaraane.

“This deal was especially significant for Stanbic Bank Botswana, which is part of Standard Bank Group, in showcasing its ability to find innovative solutions for home-grown African multinational clients committed to the continent and promoting local growth, even when these deals are somewhat complex and challenging to deliver in their detail over time,” he added.