Standard Chartered has closed two deals in Angola backed by Germany’s export credit agency (ECA) worth €238mn, the latest in a string of loans the bank has led for the country.

Both loans are backed by an insurance policy from Euler Hermes, the German ECA. Standard Chartered is acting as structuring bank, bookrunner, mandated lead arranger, original lender and agent for each.

The UK-headquartered lender says it closed a loan to Angola’s finance ministry for €96mn in November for the construction of a section of road between the towns of Mussende and Cangandala, which had fallen into disrepair. Germany’s DZ Bank is also participating in the loan.

Standard Chartered says the road is part of the Angolan government’s strategy to boost the economy of the centre of the country and that it will facilitate “easier access to healthcare, education, employment and other social services, and increase the flow of business, agricultural trade and market access”.

The second loan, which a spokesperson for the bank says closed in July this year, extends €142mn in financing for the construction of an animal vaccine production facility in the city of Huambo. DZ Bank and ODDO BHF also participated in the loan, the spokesperson tells GTR.

The facility will allow Angola to manufacture vaccines instead of relying on imports and the bank says the project’s ultimate aim “is to help develop vaccines against pathogens that occur specifically in Africa”.

Christine Jordan, Standard Chartered’s head of structured export finance for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, says the lender is “proud to strengthen our strong relationship with all the stakeholders and use our on-the-ground country presence and export finance expertise to help the Angolan sovereign bring its strategic national plans to life”.

“Our financing helps boost the country’s vaccine production independence, support local rural farmers, and improve food security and road network for the population of Angola.”

Germany’s Gauff GmbH & Co Engineering and Angola’s Noráfrica are the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors designing and building the vaccination centre.

Gauff GmbH & Co Engineering is also the EPC contractor for the road project, alongside consortium partner QG Konstruktion.

The latest financing comes on top of US$1.1bn for water infrastructure in the Angolan capital Luanda announced in September last year, which capped almost US$1bn in financing across several other projects in the country in the preceding three years.