Standard Bank fuels Motus’ growth ambitions with £150m multicurrency facility

Standard Bank has successfully refinanced and upsized a multicurrency facility for Motus to the value of £150m (about R3.6bn).

Motus is a multinational provider of automotive mobility solutions and vehicle products and services, with a leading market presence in SA as well as a selected international offering in the UK, Australia, Asia and Southern and East Africa. 

The bank acted in its capacity as joint initial mandated lead arranger, bookrunner and sustainability co-ordinator to play a leading role in the international syndication to refinance and upsize Motus’ existing multicurrency syndicated loan facility.

The facility incorporates all material aspects of the Loan Market Association’s sustainability linked loan principles to allow the facility to be classified as a sustainability-linked facility once sustainability performance targets are finalised by November, further aligning to Motus’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments.

“This transaction is a testament to Standard Bank’s capability in international lending syndications to raise hard currency loan funding for our clients to support them in their growth ambitions within and beyond the African continent” said Chanel Boxshall-Smith, vice-president of loan syndication and distribution: global markets at the Standard Bank Group.

Internationalisation and diversification are the key strategic growth measures to promote sustainable growth for Motus. This facility will support Motus’ ambition to increase earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation contribution from international operations in excess of 35%. 

“Over the years, we’ve worked with Motus to achieve important milestones in their business, most notably, its unbundling from Imperial in 2018 and arranging their first ZAR-based sustainability-linked syndicated loan funding in the South African automotive sector in 2022. This transaction deepens Standard Bank’s relationship as a trusted partner to Motus,” said Venorthy Naidoo, executive: diversified industries, automotive SA at Standard Bank Corporate Investment Banking. 

This article was sponsored by Standard Bank.