The African practice team of CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre advises Advans for establishing its Microfinance Bank in Ibadan, Nigeria

The Africa team of CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre advised Advans SA SICAR ("Advans"), a venture capital fund specialized in microfinance, in establishing La Fayette Microfinance Bank Limited in Nigeria, the sixth institution "greenfield” of the Advans network in Africa.

Lafayette Microfinance Bank has received an agreement from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate in the state of Oyo. The company was founded in June 2012. It is based in Ibadan, capital of the state. It should start operating in December 2012. Advans is the main shareholder of La Fayette MFB with a 50.10% interest. IFC (World Bank Group) and KfW (German Development Bank) each subscribed up to 17.45% of the share capital, while FMO (Dutch development bank) took a 15% stake. Lafayette MFB shares the ambition of all institutions of Advans network, i.e: to contribute to the professionalization of the microfinance sector in the region where it operates by providing credit and quality financial services.

For this operation, as for the creation of his five other institutions (in Cameroon, Ghana, DRC, Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire) Advans was advised by Jean-Jacques Lecat, Partner, head of African practice team, and Laure Frances, associate at CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre assisted in Nigeria by the Lagos office of the firm Banwo & Ighodalo.

About Advans
Advans SA, based in Luxembourg was established in August 2005, as a SICAR. Advans is managed by Horus Develoment Finance, its founding shareholder. Other shareholders include the European Investment Bank (EIB), IFC (World Bank Group), KfW, FMO, CDC Group, the Investment Fund for supporting Businesses in Africa (FISEA – established by the French development Agency - AFD). The mission of Advans is to build a network of financial institutions offering credit products and deposit and other traditional financial services to MSMEs.

For more information, please contact:

• Nicolas Merigeau, NewCap
  nmerigeau@newcap.fr
  +33 1 44 71 94 98
  
• Florence Jouffroy / Laetitia Mostowski,
  CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre
  Florence Jouffroy, Laetitia Mostowski
  +33 1 47 38 40 32 / 40 74