The Singapore-headquartered consumer goods group used the new facility to refinance part of the liability that followed its 2024 purchase of Diageo’s 58.02% stake in Guinness Nigeria for about $70 million. That stake later rose to roughly 71% after Tolaram bought shares from minority investors. Guinness Nigeria returned to profit, reporting ₦41.2 billion ($31.1 million) in profit after tax for the 18 months ended December 2025.
Standard Bank of South Africa originally provided about $90 million in short-term bridge funding for the acquisition. That bridge was converted into a term loan in July 2026, and the MCB facility now replaces part of that term debt. The refinancing reduces reliance on short-dated funding, extending the company’s repayment profile while preserving liquidity for operations.
The transaction also underscores how capital for Africa-focused deals often flows through international nodes, with Tolaram based in Singapore, MCB in Mauritius, and the asset located in Nigeria. The arrangement is a small example of cross-border financing softening the impact of local currency and market risk.
Separately, Nigerian fintech Nomba raised $3 million in debt from CardinalStone Finance to boost its cross-border payments infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The facility supplies more US dollar liquidity via banking relationships in Hong Kong and Singapore, enabling merchants to collect payments, settle transactions, and pay suppliers in Asia.
Nomba entered the DRC in 2025 through remittances and agent networks handling flows from high-volume corridors such as China and Dubai. The company is using the DRC as a hub for broader Central and East African expansion, including a DRC-to-Zambia pilot and planned links with Uganda, Kenya, and Angola. China, DRC trade reached $26.7 billion in 2025, with $21.6 billion in imports and $5.1 billion in exports, illustrating the scale of settlement demand the fintech aims to serve.
Nomba began as Kudi.AI and transitioned into agency banking and business payments, offering terminals, banking tools, and software. By 2023 the firm said it served more than 300,000 businesses and processed about $1 billion in monthly transactions. Its choice of debt preserves equity while scaling payment rails.
Both raises fit a wider pattern of growth-stage African fintechs turning to debt for targeted expansion, rather than diluting ownership through equity. Recent examples include Tanzanian remittance player NALA’s $50 million debt round in May, and Egyptian consumer lender valU’s ₦63.6 million equivalent from the National Bank of Egypt in January. For Tolaram and Nomba, the immediate outcome is clearer repayment timelines and more dollar liquidity, and the next test will be whether those advantages translate into smoother operations and faster regional growth.
