The annual Ghana cocoa board (Cocobod) pre-export facility has been closed at a record US$2bn.

The borrower initially targeted a US$1.75bn deal and was oversubscribed by over 20 international and Ghanaian banks.

The arrangers of the deal included Barclays, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Société Générale -SSB, Natixis, SMBC, Commerzbank, Ghana International Bank, Agriculture Development Bank, Citibank, Ecobank, Nedbank, DZ Bank, FirstRand, KFW, ICBC, Rabobank, and BTMU.

The signing of the deal, which was scheduled for earlier in the month, took place on September 20.

Cocobod chief executive, Anthony Fofie says that Cocobod has attained the 1 million tonne production target ahead of its scheduled 2012/13 cocoa season. He also says the US$1.5bn raised for the 2010/11 crop purchases has been fully paid.