This archive report was first published on 11 October 2019.
Shelter Afrique, a pan-African housing development financier, received Ksh 1.62bn ($16.2m) in additional capital between 2017 and 2019, which significantly contributed to the company's turnaround process.
According to Shelter Afrique Chairman Nghidinua Daniel, the company's speedy recovery was made possible by the financial support and goodwill of member states, particularly Kenya as the host nation.
"Kenya has been supportive in many ways, financial and otherwise. Whenever we called upon the Kenyan government, we have always received positive support. Additionally, Kenya is one of the countries we've financed single largest projects, which conform to our affordable housing strategy, and we've found ourselves working in tandem in many fronts involving the development of affordable housing," Nghidinua said.
Some of the notable projects launched by the Company in Kenya this year include Richland Pointe, Everest Apartments, and Karibu Homes. Shelter Afrique has also invested in the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Companies (KMRC).
Shelter Afrique's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Chimphondah confirmed that the recovery process was further accelerated by a new agreement with the company's lenders.
"We successfully negotiated and concluded debt restructuring agreement with all our eight lenders and effectively restructured the US$110 million debt to be repaid over five years from the existing loan book, with a bullet payment in the fifth year," Chimpondah said.
Shelter Afrique temporarily halted undertaking new projects in 2016 to restructure its operations and develop a new strategic direction, with a focus on turning around the company's financial performance from loss-making to financial viability by 2020 and overall financial sustainability by 2023. The company resumed full operations in early 2019.
Notably, the Company turned a Ksh 500 million (US$ 5.1m) loss recorded in June 2018 into a Ksh 7.8 million (US$ 78,000) net profit as of June 2019, against a budgeted loss of Ksh 72 million (US$ 0.72m).
Kenya is one of the top shareholders and the host nation to the pan-African housing financier, which is also owned by 44 African countries, the African Development Bank, and the African Re.
