logo
Nigeria secures $747-million Deutsche Bank-led syndicated loan for coastal highway

Nigeria secures $747-million Deutsche Bank-led syndicated loan for coastal highway

Reuters10-07-2025
ABUJA, July 10 (Reuters) - Nigeria has secured a $747 million syndicated loan, led by Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), opens new tab, to finance construction of the first phase of its planned 700-km (435-mile) coastal highway project, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
Finance ministry spokesperson Mohammad Manga said the loan is the first of its size for road infrastructure in Nigeria.
Deutsche Bank acted as global coordinator in the syndicate, which includes First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB.AD), opens new tab, African Export-Import Bank (AEIBy.MZ), opens new tab, Abu Dhabi Exports Office, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, and Zenith Bank (ZENITHB.LG), opens new tab.
The initial section of the highway financed by the loan spans 47.47 km, Manga said. The entire project is expected to cost around $11 billion and be completed in about eight years.
The highway will eventually link the commercial capital, Lagos, to the southeastern port city of Calabar.
($1 = 1,523.4800 naira)
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Eysnham park and ride to stand empty as temporary use rejected
Eysnham park and ride to stand empty as temporary use rejected

BBC News

time5 hours ago

  • BBC News

Eysnham park and ride to stand empty as temporary use rejected

A mothballed £32m park and ride - currently due to open in 2027 - will stand empty until then after other proposed uses were turned down by a 850-space Eynsham site was completed in 2024 but a planning application to connect it to the nearby A40 was only submitted in July because of cost County Council said the park and ride was finished on time and on budget because of a ring-fenced grant but "cost pressures caused by high inflation" temporarily halted the rest of the A40 improvements uses for the site suggested by residents and businesses, including cycle training, a bus depot and autonomous vehicle training, were rejected by the authority. The authority said "constraints" and other costs associated with the potential uses "limited the use of the park and ride to its original intended use".In a statement on its website, the council said it "investigated a variety of interim uses for the site in advance of it becoming fully operational". In response to a freedom of information request, the authority said it was also approached with proposals to use the site for parkruns or recreational an Oxfordshire County Council task and finish group concluded that mothballing to "protect the site from damage and degradation" was preferable. A spokesperson said: "There was no comfort that value generated by interim uses would cover the council's costs in staff, resources or capital modifications necessary to commercially leverage the site." Costs of potentially getting planning permission and insurance, along with problems accessing the site, also hindered using it for other purposes, the council added. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.

How Spain's wealth tax became an unexpected boon for Britain
How Spain's wealth tax became an unexpected boon for Britain

Telegraph

timea day ago

  • Telegraph

How Spain's wealth tax became an unexpected boon for Britain

Amancio Ortega, Spain's richest man, is not a household name on Teesside. But the billionaire entrepreneur, best known for founding Zara, now looms large over the area. The 89-year-old's €110bn (£95bn) family office, Pontegadea Inversiones, last week snapped up a 49pc stake in PD Ports, paying an undisclosed sum to Canadian investment giant Brookfield for the shares. PD operates major ports at Tees and Hartlepool. The Spaniard already has a property portfolio in Britain worth £2.5bn, but until now he has mostly stuck to hotels, shops and offices. The PD Ports deal is his first major British foray into infrastructure and logistics. Ortega's family office insists the investment is simply about good business. But observers note that the push into ports could have an advantageous side effect: lowering the billionaire's wealth tax bill. Spain's notorious wealth tax was first introduced in 1977 as an 'emergency' measure, and was reintroduced in 2011 after a three-year hiatus as a 'temporary' measure. It takes an annual slice of between 0.2pc and 3.5pc of the value of every Spanish resident's worldwide assets. The rules say that a Spaniard's combined tax bill on wealth and income should not exceed 60pc of their taxable income. That shifts the tax net away from the asset-rich-cash-poor, old-money crowd and more towards the high-earning end of the wealth spectrum – where Ortega stands out. Ortega's personal fortune, which Forbes estimates at almost $115bn (£86bn), largely derives from his 59pc shareholding in his company Inditex, which owns the Zara brand he founded 50 years ago. After leaving school at 14, he began working for a clothes shop in Galicia and started his first rag-trade business in the early 1960s. However, it is not just a paper fortune: he also regularly receives billions in dividends, a form of income, from his empire. This year, his dividend bonanza will top €3bn for the first time thanks to his stake in Inditex, which is held via two of Pontegadea's three subsidiary companies. He tends to reinvest almost all of this in buying properties and companies. Most of Ortega's British investments are in scope of Spain's wealth tax. However, the rules say that if a rich Spaniard has a stake worth more than 5pc in a productive or trading business (which does not include real estate), that won't count towards his or her taxable wealth. PD Ports is exactly this kind of investment. Sources close to Pontegadea say most of the family office's assets would still get caught in the wealth tax net. They say it is standard practice to redeploy the dividends and other income into economically productive assets. Still, Pontegadea has been visibly broadening its portfolio away from purely property in recent years, taking the kind of 5pc-plus stakes in energy and infrastructure companies that, if structured in certain ways, could qualify for that wealth tax exemption. Sources said some of these investments might qualify the exemption and lower the wealth tax liability. But they said this was not the motivation for the choice of assets, nor the timing of deals. Ortega's strategic shift has mostly been aimed at energy. In 2023, the year after a reform that tightened the wealth tax net, Pontegadea pumped a reported €693m into energy projects, more than twice the amount of the year before. In the past five years his family office has acquired 5pc stakes in both electricity major Redeia and gas grid operator Enagas. Among its dozen-plus energy investments, it also owns 12pc of Portuguese electricity and gas system operator Ren, and has stakes in several solar and wind farms in Spain and France. Beyond energy, in 2022 Pontegadea bought a one-third stake in telecoms provider Telxius, and last December it took a 20pc chunk of Dutch parking operator Q-Park. The 49pc stake in PD Ports looks to be one of Ortega's largest ownership positions, putting Britain at the centre of Pontegadea's diversification strategy. The investment highlights how Britain is benefiting from a deal-making spree overseen by Spain's richest man. It could also be read as a sign of the distorting effects of a wealth tax, which critics say can often do more harm than good. 'I don't think this tax collects a lot of revenue,' says Christopher McCann, a Spain-based senior partner at financial advisers Blevins Franks. Calls for UK wealth tax It comes as Rachel Reeves comes under pressure to consider just such a wealth tax for Britain to help fill a multibillion-pound hole in the budget. Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader, has called for a 2pc tax on assets over £10m and the party's union backers have also spoken out in favour of the idea. Anneliese Dodds, a former shadow chancellor, last week also urged Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves to look at 'how it would be possible' to impose a levy on the assets of the richest Britons. On Friday, Dame Diana Johnson, the policing minister, said on Friday it was important 'all these issues are looked at and discussed and we look at the evidence about what will work and what won't work'. Despite the growing calls, senior ministers have downplayed talks of a wealth tax amid concerns it would hasten the stampede of wealthy leaving Britain after the abolition of non-dom status. Depending on the structure of any regime, it could also put off investors like Ortega. The businessman is a little-known but significant presence in the British property sector. His flagship is the imposing neoclassical Adelphi building on Victoria Embankment in central London, which he bought for a reported €680m. Pontegadea's other London assets include the 1920s commercial edifice Devonshire House, opposite the Ritz on Piccadilly; the roof-gardened Post Building in Bloomsbury; and a former BBC office near Oxford Circus. In Companies House filings, Pontegadea valued its British portfolio at £2.4bn in March 2024, yielding rental income of £98m. His worldwide real estate empire, worth a reported €20bn, spans Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Britain, Canada and the United States. Ortega is a landlord to the likes of Amazon, Walmart and Primark. Although Pontegadea denies the wealth tax has played the driving role in Ortega's shift from pure property into energy and infrastructure, advisers say the tax figures are large in the financial planning of even moderately wealthy Spanish residents. 'If you have investment income, then by using the right structures you can squeeze down your taxable income, and you can reduce your wealth tax liability,' McCann says. 'It is possible to live here and pay a more reasonable level of tax just by good planning.' Whatever the motivation behind Ortega's PD Ports play, you can be sure he has plenty of good financial planning.

Italy to fulfil ancient Roman ambition with bridge to Sicily
Italy to fulfil ancient Roman ambition with bridge to Sicily

The Independent

timea day ago

  • The Independent

Italy to fulfil ancient Roman ambition with bridge to Sicily

Italy is reportedly set to approve the construction of the long-awaited Strait of Messina bridge next week. The 2.2-mile suspension bridge will connect Calabria on mainland Italy with Messina in Sicily. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has allocated €13.5bn (£11.8bn) for the project, which has been an ambition since Roman times. Construction will be led by the Italian company Webuild and overseen by the Messina Strait company. Scheduled for completion in 2032, the bridge will accommodate up to 200 trains per day and 6,000 vehicles per hour.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store