AFG Bank Guinée lands €60M from Proparco to lend to small firms
What's the deal? AFG Bank GuinéeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the former Société Générale GuinéeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, signed €60 million (about $67 million) of loans and guarantees with France's development lender ProparcoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in Conakry on October 6, 2026. The package splits into a €35 million senior loan for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and €25 million of trade finance guarantees.
What's the endgame? The bank wants to double its SME loan book from €60 million to €120 million by 2027, and triple its number of SME clients. It also plans to relaunch its "Maison de la PME," an SME house meant to offer small firms stronger advice and products.
Why now? The deal lands as Guinea's giant SimandouDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → iron-ore project pulls new suppliers and traders into the economy. The bank names transport, agriculture, services, industry, energy, and food as target sectors, several tied to Simandou.
Who's behind it? AFG HoldingDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the financial arm of Atlantic Group, completed its purchase of the bank in August 2025, and it took its current name in December 2025. The financing follows a strategic partnership between Proparco and Atlantic Group, signed as a memorandum of understanding in Nairobi in May 2026.
What's the detail? The senior loan ranks first for repayment, making it cheaper and safer for the lender. The trade finance guarantees back the documents importers and exporters use to pay across borders, and should help the bank widen its network of correspondent banks abroad.
Karim Koné, chief executive of AFG Holding, set out the targets to double the SME portfolio and triple the client base. The bank projects nearly 4,000 direct and indirect jobs could be kept or created, though it is the bank's own estimate and some reports give a lower figure of 3,800.
What's not known? The reports do not state the interest rate, the loan maturity, or the date of the first payout. Nor do they say how many small firms will qualify, or what share of the money goes to firms linked to Simandou.
The signal: The €60 million round sits in the top tier for size among comparable financings, underlining how development lenders are channelling capital toward African SMEs as resource projects reshape local economies. For Guinea, where mining is central, the deal ties small-business credit directly to the supply chains forming around Simandou.
Read more: riotimesonline.com
Image credit: Jeff Attaway
