PTA Bank has appointed Imara Fiduciary as the security agent to facilitate the extension of a $70m loan to PPC Zimbabwe to fund the construction of a new cement factory in Harare.

Harare-based Imara Fiduciary, a specialist service provider registered as a bond-holding company, will hold tangible PPC security on behalf of PTA and other investors.

Admassu Tadesse, PTA Bank President, said: “The security and debenture services of Imara Fiduciary add value in an environment where credit and other risks have to be solidly and credibly mitigated to ensure the confidence of financiers, especially international financiers.”

“There is no doubt that Zimbabwe has a great deal of need for financing and investment in its productive and infrastructure sectors. The expansion of cement capacity is an important contribution in this respect. PTA Bank is pleased to have partnered with PPC to co-finance this sizeable investment in Zimbabwe’s private sector and the industrial economy,” he added.

PTA is the treaty-based Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank.

Its mission is to advance the economic development, integration and prosperity of the regions it serves through the extension of development capital and associated services.

Launched in Harare in early 2014, Imara Fiduciary is a member of the pan-African Imara financial services group and a significant participant in the Zimbabwe corporate debt market.

Markus de Klerk, executive director of Imara Fiduciary, said that risk mitigation by Imara Fiduciary is an efficient and cost-effective mechanism for “achieving increased peace of mind by lenders and investors while giving the borrower a flexible and scalable security platform with a minimum of delay and red tape”.

“We provide a boots-on-the-ground service that supports funding deployed where it is needed, while timely and accurate reporting to the investor promotes effective working relationships and helps drive the project forward within the envisaged time-frame,” he said.

“We are delighted by the appointment by PTA Bank for the purpose of facilitating vital infrastructure investment in Zimbabwe. We regard it as an endorsement of both our strategic vision and business model,” he added.