Henry Dannell secures $20 million trade finance facility to support commodities trader’s expansion into Kenya

Henry Dannell, a specialist cross-border credit adviser, has successfully brokered a $20 million trade finance credit facility for a UK-registered petrol commodities trader expanding its international operations through a newly established entity in Kenya.
The facility will provide the company with access to capital on a trade-by-trade basis, enabling it to pursue larger transactions and increase its trading capacity without relying solely on its own balance sheet.
The client had historically funded its commodities transactions using company capital, an approach that supported its existing activities but limited the size and frequency of trades it could undertake. Having already secured $10 million in junior investor capital from Switzerland, the business sought additional financing to support the next stage of its expansion.
Beyond the capital requirement, the transaction presented a more complex challenge. The company required a banking partner that could understand its international trading model, proposed operating structure in Kenya, and the commercial rationale behind its expansion.
Henry Dannell worked closely with the client to understand its trading operations, existing capital structure, and growth strategy before approaching the lending market. Drawing on its international banking relationships across the UK and Channel Islands, the firm identified a bank with a significant presence in Kenya and engaged directly with its lending team in the relevant jurisdiction. As part of the process, Henry Dannell worked to articulate the commercial opportunity to the lender, reviewing the company’s financial projections, local licensing arrangements, and counterparty agreements to build a clear picture of both the business and its proposed expansion.
The resulting $20 million trade finance facility, alongside the existing $10 million in junior investor capital, provides the company with a more scalable funding structure to support increased trading activity and pursue larger opportunities within the Kenyan market.
Kem Kemal, CEO and Co-Founder of Henry Dannell, said: “Transactions like this demonstrate why securing finance for businesses operating internationally and in specialist sectors is about much more than finding a lender willing to provide capital. The real work is in understanding how the business operates, where its existing funding structure is holding it back, and which banking partner is best equipped to support its ambitions.”
“In this instance, that meant developing a detailed understanding of the client’s trading model and translating the commercial opportunity into a proposition that made sense from a lender’s perspective,” he added. “By understanding the business behind the borrowing, we were able to structure a solution that not only addresses an immediate capital requirement, but also gives the client greater flexibility to pursue its longer-term growth ambitions. That is the role we see Henry Dannell playing for businesses with increasingly international and complex financing needs: bridging the gap between commercial ambition and the global lending market.”
The transaction further demonstrates Henry Dannell’s approach to specialist debt advisory, bringing together commercial understanding, cross-border banking relationships and tailored financing structures to support businesses whose requirements may sit outside conventional lending parameters.
As companies increasingly look across borders for growth, capital and new markets, Henry Dannell continues to work with businesses and entrepreneurs requiring financing solutions capable of reflecting the complexity of their operations and ambitions.