New core investor injects additional fund into DEAP Capital

“We are excited at Banklink Africa’s total committed in the company’s transition into CMFC. We believe there is a significant opportunity to build a specialist African platform focused on critical minerals at a time when global demand is accelerating. With an investor’s group so committed, CMFC will be positioned to originate, finance and help develop projects across the African continent, while connecting those opportunities with international capital, technology partners and long-term offtakers,” Rutten stated.

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He added that CMFC would operate at the convergence of mining project finance, structured credit, commodity trading, capital market issuance and ESG-aligned investment governance.

Chief Financial Officer, Banklink Africa Private Equities Limited, Mr. Joshua Adesoji, said the company remains committed to long-term sustainability of CMFC.

“We are pleased to have fulfilled this second tranche under our funding commitment to DEAP CAP. We remain committed to finalising the remainder capital injection within the next 30 days as we evolve DeapCap into CMFC. We believe the business is well positioned to capture substantial opportunities within the Africa’s critical minerals sector,” Adesoji said.

He noted that upon completion of the capitalisation and transformation, CMFC would deploy its leveraged resources and competencies into full realisation and valurisation of a pipeline of transactions across Nigeria, and subsequently Africa.

Shareholders had at the meeting approved the appointment of new directors including Rutten, a founding Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Mining Exchange and Mumbai Commodity Exchange (MCX); Dr Israel Ovirih, a leading Nigerian specialised finance expert; Mr. Tope Oduseso, a top banker and Francis Ekeng, technology entrepreneur and businessman.

At the board meeting shortly after the AGM, the directors of the company thereafter appointed Rutten as the new chairman of the company while Ovirih was appointed President & Co-CEO. Mr Anthony Adigwe was appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Ikenna Oguike was appointed as the Chief Operating Officer during the transition period as the company’s transformation takes shape. The meeting had empowered the directors to reconstitute the board and relevant committees.

The company has also secured several high networth global investors from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Europe, with plans underway to further explore existing pipeline of investment commitments from across the globe.

Speaking on the emergence of CMFC after the meeting, Rutten said the new company would have remarkable multiplier effects on Africa’s global positioning by domesticating values from the continent’s natural resources within the countries through full optimisation of the minerals value chain.

He outlined that the company, with its Nigerian origin, would gradually build up its businesses by exploring immediate deals within the Nigerian minerals sector, using the Nigerian experience as a showcase of competence and potential to convince other African economies.

He noted that the emergence of CMFC aligns with Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda, pointing out that by optimising the value-chain of its critical minerals, Nigeria could deepen economic growth and spread prosperity across the country.

“CMFC would invest in portfolio companies across the entire minerals value chain. In the upstream segment, we will be active in exploration funding, pre-feasibility studies, feasibility studies, mine development and expansion, mechanisation and fleet financing.

“In the midstream, CMFC will connect funding to refining and smelting businesses, beneficiation plants, processing infrastructure, concentrate and intermediate product manufacturing. At the end, we will complete the cycle with bespoke financing solutions to downstream operators such as commodity trading, long-term offtake partnerships, metal storage and logistics and resource- backed financing instruments. So, you have a whole gamut of valurisation of the minerals sector, with profound multiplier effects across the country,” Rutten said.

According to him, while Africa boasts of more than 30 per cent of global mineral reserves, these have remained largely underexplored and undercapitalised. But growing interest from the private sector in exploration and beneficiation now presents a significant opportunity to bridge critical financing gap undermining the continent’s growth.

Ovirih, a first-class financier and Chairman of Banklink Africa, commended the shareholders for sharing in the vision of CMFC as Africa’s financial powerhouse for critical minerals and commodities.

He explained that the company would provide access to Nigerian and other African businesses in the metals and minerals ecosystem to raise much-needed funds globally.

He pointed out that with the caliber of investors, board expertise and enthusiasm that had greeted the emergence of CMFC, the group would unlock multi-billion dollar funding in private capital for Nigerian and other African critical minerals and rare earth industries.

“We are seeing a new dawn for Nigerian and African companies in the minerals and commodities space. It’s particularly instructive that CMFC is coming at a time Nigeria is exploring opportunities to leapfrog its economy to $1 trillion.”

Nigeria is well endowed and we see the minerals sector contributing more to the economic growth as we connect businesses to financing,” Ovirih said.

He said CMFC has potential to be the game changer for the Nigerian economy citing explosive global demand for critical minerals and rare earths powering the energy transition, digitalisation, aerospace, electric vehicle and advanced manufacturing.

According to him, CFMC is envisaged to becoming the institutional gateway for private capital seeking scalable exposure to Africa’s critical minerals and rare earth.

He said CMFC is coming on board to fill huge gap in the minerals sector as there is currently no private-sector-focused company that provides both equity and credit across mine-to-market value chains as well as in areas such as finances for beneficiation and processing infrastructure, logistics, trading, and structured offtake and metals and minerals sector agnostic.

He added that with its unique model combining NGX retail participation with international institutional capital, CMFC’s strong global mining finance leadership with built-in capital markets issuance platform is the perfect ideal to support all cadres of mining businesses.

He said the company plans to take advantage of pipeline of early deals in gold, copper, lithium, and mid-cap mines.

Ovirih said CMFC will operate a multi-region structure with offices in Lagos, London, Hong Kong, South Africa, Nairobi and others for origination, capital raising, and trading.