Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has mandated a group of six banks to arrange its annual pre-export financing (PXF).

Rabobank, Crédit Agricole, Natixis, Standard Bank and SMBC are the co-ordinating mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) and bookrunners, while Ghana International Bank has been mandated as the initial MLA, as it is every year.

The 11-month receivables-backed syndicated loan is fully underwritten by the arrangers and will be structured similarly to previous Cocobod annual trade facilities. It is priced at 65 basis points (bps) above Libor, a decrease from the 67.5bps offered last year.

Proceeds from the loan will be used to meet Cocobod’s financing needs for the 2017/2018 cocoa crop.

The launch comes just a few months after a major shake-up in Cocobod’s senior management. In January, 11 top managers were put on forced leave, and the company’s CEO Stephen Opuni was sacked. Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has since appointed Joseph Boahen Aidoo, a former member of parliament for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as the acting CEO.