Purple, the Nigerian real-estate company currently carrying out a stock market initial public offer (IPO), is close to securing backing from financial guarantee provider InfraCredit for the debt part of its fundraising, Purple CEO Laide Agboola tells The Africa Report. The company is seeking to raise about $68m, comprising debt and equity. The debt, which will be in two tranches of $34m, will be used to expand, while the equity from the IPO will be used to keep leverage down. Talks with Infracredit are “close to closure,” Agboola says. The IPO, for which Kairos Capital is the lead issuer, opened on 21 November and runs until 23 December.
