Continental mortgage provider Shelter Afrique plans to lean on Kenya and Chad’s support to push for China’s admission as a shareholder in a strategic move to give it access to cheap funding and social housing expertise.

The Pan-African mortgage company says Kenya being its host nation, Chad being the current chair of the board, makes them the best-placed to lobby for political support to facilitate admission of China in the shareholders’ roll.

Shelter Afrique is currently jointly owned by 44 African states.

Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Sudan have also expressed interest in being shareholders of the mortgage company, a move set to be decided on in the annual general meeting set for June next year.

“We are still talking to them (China) but it is not easy to move into an international organisation. Its admission is more driven by political support and we are (counting on) Kenya as the host country and Chad being the chair to give political support and the executive to support the move from the technical side,” said Shelter Afrique’s managing director Alassane Ba.

Kenya is the single largest shareholder of the mortgage company with an 11.36 per cent holding.

The executive sees the invite of China as a strategic move to bring in cheap funds into the institution as it will inject additional capital to take up a stake.

Shelter Afrique ordinarily undertakes capital intensive projects to help meet the huge demand for housing on the continent, which has forced it to borrow heavily. It raised Sh5 billion last month through a bond issue which started trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange Thursday.

READ: Shelter Afrique’s Sh3.5 billion bond oversubscribed

In June its shareholders injected additional capital through a rights issue. High cost of financing and unavailability of long term funds have been cited as major challenges for the real estate sector in Africa.

Chinese involvement would also bring useful experience drawn from its management of the biggest social housing scheme in the world, with an estimated annual budget of $80 billion (Sh7 trillion).

Most African states are looking at ways of providing decent affordable housing to their citizens, making the Chinese experience relevant to them. The ministry of land and urban development in the country has an initiative to build 250,000 houses annually.

Earlier in the year, Shelter Afrique received debt from European Investment Bank and is seeking for more funds to build 2,500 one-bedroomed low end units in Mavoko.

The real estate firm estimates that each unit will cost Sh425,000 upon completion on the land provided for by the government.

China’s admission would see the world’s second biggest economy tighten its grip on the emerging opportunities on the African continent, widely regarded as the main frontier for growth owing to its steady economic expansion.

The admission of the African countries is set to be easy given that the institution is built on solidarity of the continent and aims to have all the 54 countries on board. “The capital injection is dependent on the country, for South Sudan we expect $1 million but for others we expect higher amounts,” said Mr Ba.

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