Rating Release
Agusto & Co. assigns an “Aaa” rating, with a ‘stable’ outlook to Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited.
The rating expires on 30 June 2022.
The rating assigned to Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited (“InfraCredit” or “the Corporation”) is hinged on the support of its core capital providers; Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Africa Finance Corporation (rated Aaa (national rating) and Aa (FCY rating) by Agusto & Co) and InfraCo Africa Investment Limited (InfraCo). The rating also takes cognisance of the technical, governance and capital support extended by these shareholders and GuarantCo Management Company Limited (rated Aa- by Fitch and A1 by Moody’s); the callable capital provider. The increasing diversity in the equity base of InfraCredit as reflected in the addition of InfraCo to the shareholders during the year under review with a US$27 million investment and the $10 million long term, unsecured borrowing from the African Development Bank (AfDB) was also considered in the assigned rating.
The rating assigned also reflects the quality of InfraCredit’s guarantees and investment portfolios backed by an acceptable risk management framework, good return on investments during the year and an experienced management team. However, weak macroeconomic fundamentals exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to the low contribution of core business to earnings constrain the rating.