The transformation of DEAP Capital Management & Trust Plc into Critical Minerals Financing Corporation Plc has entered a decisive new phase following an additional N2bn capital injection by Banklink Africa Private Equities Limited.
The latest funding increases the total capital injected to N3bn, with the balance of the N6bn committed under the parties’ capitalisation agreement expected to be completed this month.
The Chairman of the company, Lamon Rutten, stated that the additional capital injection reflects growing confidence in the company’s ability to become the leading institutional platform for the financing and development of critical minerals in Nigeria and across Africa.
According to Rutten, the accelerated pace of funding underscores a growing conviction in CMFC’s strategy and the scale of the opportunity emerging within Nigeria’s critical minerals and metals sector. He noted that CMFC is being built as the institutional platform intended to underpin and accelerate the development of an entire industry.
He said, “The additional funding commitment is a clear validation of CMFC’s long-term strategy and of the significant opportunity that exists to build a specialised African institution at the centre of the critical minerals value chain.
“CMFC is not being created simply to finance mines.
We are building a platform capable of connecting projects, processors, traders, and manufacturers to capital, expertise, and international markets. In doing so, we expect to help catalyse an entire ecosystem with profound implications for Nigeria’s industrial and economic future.”
He added that CMFC’s ambition is to establish a financial and commercial platform capable of mobilising both domestic and international capital into mining, processing, and downstream industrial activity, thereby positioning Nigeria to retain more value from its mineral endowment.
Chief Financial Officer of Banklink Africa Private Equities Limited, Joshua Adesoji, said the additional N2 billion injection demonstrates the investor group’s conviction that CMFC is uniquely positioned to address a longstanding financing gap in the Nigerian and African mining sectors.
“We have increased our commitment according to the terms of our takeover agreement because we believe CMFC can become a genuinely differentiated institution. The company is positioned to occupy a strategic space that has historically been underserved: providing both capital and structuring capability across the full mine-to-market chain,” Adesoji noted.
He confirmed that Banklink Africa remains on track to complete the balance of its N6bn commitment within the agreed timeframe, providing CMFC with the resources required to accelerate transaction origination, capital raising, and execution.
At its recent Annual General Meeting in Lagos, shareholders unanimously approved the company’s strategic transformation, new corporate identity, and capital-raising programme. They also granted authority for the board to establish domestic and international partnerships.
These resolutions position CMFC to mobilise capital at a time when global demand for lithium, copper, rare earths, tin, zinc, and other energy-transition minerals is accelerating. Following this approval, the company is transitioning fully to CMFC Plc, with a mandate to become Africa’s leading private-sector critical minerals finance and investment institution.
Analysts have hailed the emergence of CMFC as a timely solution to a “missing link” in Nigeria’s minerals economy. While Nigeria possesses substantial reserves of strategic minerals, the sector has historically been constrained by the absence of a dedicated institution capable of providing project structuring and risk mitigation, direct capital and credit facilities and market access across the value chain.
CMFC is designed to fill that gap. The company will operate at the intersection of mining project finance, structured credit, commodity trading, and ESG-aligned investment governance. Ultimately, CMFC is expected to serve as the financial anchor for a broader African industrial ecosystem.
