Resource Sector Solutions

Our extensive offering includes:

Mining sector

Our experienced Mining team has been providing corporate banking, investment banking and financial risk solutions to some of Africa's largest mining giants since our formation in 1977.

Through collaboration across business units within RMB we provide holistic solutions across all aspects of each transaction including mining, processing, environmental, accounting, tax and legal considerations. Our team spans across Africa, the UK, India and China.

• Project finance and limited recourse offerings – RMB offers limited recourse finance for mining projects in South Africa and the Broader Africa, including project finance, export credit agency funding and asset-backed financing. Examples of this include Kenmare’s production expansion and plant move, Pan African Resources’ Elikhulu Project and the New Liberty Gold Mine.
• M&A advisory – RMB offers comprehensive advisory solutions for strategic reviews, acquisition or disposal processes, and can supplement this offering with staple financing solutions. Examples of successful sales processes include AngloGold Ashanti’s sale of Moab Khotsong to Harmony Gold.
• Acquisition finance – RMB underwrites financing packages for mergers and acquisitions via a range of products, including normal loans and preference shares. We offer bridging loans so that clients can demonstrate funds certainty, with these providing a window of opportunity to implement the sustainable capital structure for the merged business. Examples of this include Impala Platinum’s acquisition of North American Palladium, Harmony Gold’s acquisition of AngloGold Ashanti’s South African assets, Afrimat’s acquisition of Diro Iron Ore and Sibanye Gold’s acquisition of Stillwater Mining.
• Indigenisation structuring and financing – RMB is a top-rated structurer, arranger and underwriter of financing required for indigenisation transactions in the mining sector through our leading credentials in South African broad-based black economic empowerment transactions. We have concluded such deals for Exxaro and Petra Diamonds.
• Corporate debt solutions – RMB provides advice and flexible debt solutions to optimise the capital structures and the tax position of mining companies. Examples of this in the mining sector include Richards Bay Minerals and First Quantum Minerals.
• Commodity linked financing – RMB structures non-traditional commodity loans such as gold and copper loans with various benefits to clients, such as for Pan African Resources.
• Junior debt financing – RMB offers financing products across the capital structure, ranging from senior debt to junior debt in order to assist clients to fill funding shortfalls. We financed New Liberty Gold Mine in this way.
• Risk Management – RMB can advise on, and implement risk management solutions for commodity price risk, exchange rate risk, diesel cost hedging and interest rate risk. QKR Navachab’s hedging of gold at the peak of the COVID crisis is an example of how decisive action can lock in strong margins to de-risk project development.
• Equity capital raising – RMB has leading credentials in equity raising on the JSE, with access to global capital pools through its joint venture with Morgan Stanley. This has benefitted a number of our clients in the mining sector, including Pan African Resources, Sibanye Stillwater and Impala Platinum.
• Debt Capital Markets – RMB can help our clients access the South African and global debt capital markets to raise bonds or structured notes through private placements or public market activities.
• Transactional Banking – Our platforms in our presence countries allow us to assist companies with day-to-day banking, including the opening of accounts, payments, foreign exchange and investment solutions in both local currency and hard currency.

Oil and gas sector

Our Oil and Gas team works across the oil and gas sector with a specific focus on the upstream (development finance, receivables finance and reserves-based lending), midstream (oil and gas pipelines and storage facilities) and oil services industries.

The team has funded oil and gas projects for some of the biggest oil and gas producers in Africa over the past couple of decades. Our specialised team works in multiple jurisdictions across Africa, the UK, India and China.

• Project finance – RMB works across the oil and gas industries with a specific focus on the upstream (development finance, receivables finance and reserve-based lending), midstream (oil and gas pipelines and storage facilities) and oil services industries. An example of such a deal is the Coral vessel finance.  
• Acquisition finance – RMB provides underwriting of financing packages for mergers and acquisitions. A good example of this is the Assala’s purchase of field interests in Gabon.
• M&A advisory – RMB, through its London-based team and supported by the broader team in South Africa, offers comprehensive advisory solutions for strategic reviews, acquisition or disposal processes, and can supplement this offering with staple financing solutions. We have also conducted numerous independent valuations for clients such as Sasol.
• Corporate debt solutions – RMB provides flexible debt solutions to optimise the capital structures and tax position of companies. We underwrite large numbers in order to deliver a transaction quickly and then syndicate to the rest of the lending market. Examples of this in the Oil and Gas sector include bridge financing for Sasol and corporate facilities for Seplat Petroleum.
• Prepayment facilities – We offer prepayment finance facilities that are ring-fenced against future production, for example, the Falcon deal for Chevron, the Santolina deal for Shell, and the Satellites deal for Exxon.
• Reserve based finance – We also offer other ring-fenced reserve-based finance facilities that are linked to the value of the underlying borrowing base assets. This is done to support companies that want to develop assets in conjunction with government and their JV partners. Examples of deals include Petrobras, Assala and Kosmos.
• Risk Management – RMB can advise on, and implement risk management solutions for oil price risk, exchange rate risk, and interest rate risk. Sasol’s oil price hedging programme to de-risk cashflows in the context of the Lake Charles development is an example of this solution in action.
• Debt Capital Markets – RMB can help our clients access the South African and global debt capital markets to raise bonds or structured notes through private placements or public market activities. We have serviced clients including Kosmos and Seplat in this sector in their hard currency DCM activities.
• Transactional Banking – Our platforms in our presence countries allow us to assist companies with day-to-day banking, including the opening of accounts, payments, foreign exchange and investment solutions in both local currency and hard currency.

Please see our climate and energy-related policies:

• FirstRand Climate Change Policy
• FirstRand Energy and Fossil Fuel Policy