Crown Agents Bank (CAB) has acted as sole mandated lead arranger on a dual-currency syndicated trade refinancing facility for Vista GUI, the Guinean subsidiary of Vista Bank Group.
The facility, which is guaranteed by parent company Vista Holdings, comprises €105mn and US$21mn and carries a one-year tenor.
As sole mandated lead arranger (MLA) and facility agent, CAB led a nine-member lending syndicate including FirstBank UK, The Access Bank UK as well as its Paris branch, The Access Bank Malta Limited, Eastern and Southern African Trade Fund, British Arab Commercial Bank, Ghana International Bank and FidBank UK.
The transaction supports Vista Bank Group’s “trade refinancing requirements” and is designed to “strengthen access to international liquidity for trade-related activity” across the group’s core West African markets, CAB said in a statement.
CAB’s global head of lending, Duarte Pedreira, said the facility “demonstrates the continued appetite among specialist and international lenders for well-structured African FI risk”.
“Crown Agents Bank is proud to have led and mobilised this syndicate, helping to deliver liquidity where it can support real economic activity.
“Supporting trade finance in Africa is central to our purpose; at a time when access to trade finance remains vital for banks, businesses and communities across the global south, transactions like this show how targeted capital can help sustain financial connectivity and unlock growth,” Pedreira said.
The facility comes as the emerging markets-focused bank has signalled ambitions to move beyond its identity as primarily an FX and payments provider and expand trade finance operations.
The bank reported a 50% jump in trade finance lending to £270mn in 2025 following the launch of an enhanced originate-to-distribute model.
Pedreira told GTR earlier this year that CAB is aiming to lead syndications “for African, Latin American, and Asian banking groups that wouldn’t otherwise have access to the syndications market”.
For Vista Bank Group, the transaction is the latest in a run of international financing activity.
In March, the International Finance Corporation announced a US$20mn senior loan to Vista GUI to support the bank’s MSME lending portfolio in Guinea, with at least 25% of the financing allocated to women-owned or women-led businesses.
The European Investment Bank also signed a €20mn financing agreement with Vista GUI in October last year to support SMEs and agricultural value chains in Guinea.
