Jacob Atkins

Two former senior export finance bankers have formed an advisory to help companies and projects secure support from export credit agencies. André Gazal (pictured), until recently global head of export finance at Crédit Agricole, and Michiel de Vries, previously global head of structured export finance at ING, announced the creation of GlobalEx Advisors earlier this…

South Sudan has agreed to provide two oil cargoes it owes to BB Energy under a US$100mn deal that went awry last year, the oil trading company has said, as a London court extended an injunction in its favour. “BB Energy is now in receipt of irrevocable letters of award from the Government of…

Trafigura has accused the wife of metals trader Prateek Gupta of hiding and selling assets it believes may have been derived from her husband’s US$600mn nickel fraud against the commodity trading giant. Ginni Gupta sold a Dubai villa last year as part of a transaction that Trafigura believes was designed to use undisclosed assets received…

Demand for big-ticket, syndicated letters of credit is soaring in the US, those involved in the transactions have said, as utility companies and power grid operators seek credit protection for huge power supply contracts inked with data centre developers. Banks have been cashing in on demand from electricity suppliers that insist developers issue standby letters…

Proposed changes to US bank capital rules could make supply chain finance less attractive for large lenders and more expensive for corporate users, Baft (the Bankers’ Association for Finance and Trade) has warned. Under draft reforms unveiled in March, banks could be required to set aside 10% of supply chain finance (SCF) exposures as up-front…

Credit insurers have backed a “pioneering” loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) that helped Zambia buy back US$1.36bn in sovereign bonds. Texel Group, which brokered the policies for the AfDB, told GTR it was likely the first time the credit insurance market has insured a sovereign bond repurchase transaction “on a comprehensive non-payment basis”.…

A court has ordered the Quintar Kimura Special Credit Fund to repay an investor just over US$4mn for a sub-participation in a loan to a troubled Chilean copper mine. The bulk of the award reflects what a London judge determined was the market value of US asset manager Yieldpoint Stable Value Fund’s sub-participation in the…

Deutsche Bank has become the first global commercial lender to secure a standalone World Bank guarantee platform for a portfolio of trade transactions. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) has created a €1bn platform covering Deutsche Bank’s non-payment risk on trade transactions involving select state-owned banks in emerging markets, according to a July 14 statement.…

A Singapore court has struck out an attempt by the liquidators of Hin Leong to hold auditor Deloitte liable for US$2.6bn in trading losses suffered by the collapsed commodity trader. Hin Leong imploded in 2020 after plummeting oil prices exposed a years-long trade finance fraud. The company’s liquidators filed a series of claims against Deloitte,…

Businesses that do not yet export from the UK will be able to receive indirect backing from UK Export Finance and the British Business Bank under a financing scheme slated to launch next year. Then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said earlier this month that the programme will target support “at the estimated thousands of…