Deal sheet
- Status
- Unresolved
- Type
- Investment
- Parties
- CANEX Creations Inc., D’Kings Men Media Ltd
- Amount
- Not disclosed Not disclosed. No source consulted, including Afreximbank's own press release, states a dollar figure, valuation, or equity percentage for CANEX Creations Inc.'s position in D'Kings Men Media Ltd.
- Rights covered
- An equity stake, percentage not disclosed, in D'Kings Men Media Ltd, the Lagos company founded and run by Nigerian musician D'Banj (Daniel Oladapo Oyebanjo) that operates the C.R.E.A.M. (Creative, Reality, Entertainment, Arts and Music) talent-discovery and monetisation platform. Every source checked frames this as a corporate equity position in the platform's operating company. It is not a transfer, license, administration deal, or acquisition of any music copyright, master recording, or publishing right held by D'Banj or any C.R.E.A.M. creator.
- Territory
- Nigeria, where C.R.E.A.M. operates via web and USSD (*463#) on MTN Nigeria, reporting over seven million subscribers per D'Banj's own statement in Afreximbank's release. CANEX Creations Inc. and its parent, Afreximbank, operate under a Pan-African investment mandate.
- Announced
- A signing ceremony took place during the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM2025), Abuja, Nigeria, which ran 25-28 June 2025; Vanguard and BusinessDay both published same-day accounts dated 28 June 2025 describing a ceremony "on Thursday." Afreximbank's own written press release is dated 25 July 2025, roughly a month later, and frames the arrangement as a signed term sheet rather than a closed transaction. No source identifies a separate closing date.
- Primary document
- Official newsroom
- Sources
- Afreximbank press release, "Afreximbank Enters Strategic Equity Partnership in D'Banj's C.R.E.A.M. Talent Discovery and Monetization Platform," dated 25 July 2025, direct quote: "African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), acting through CANEX Creations Inc., has signed a term sheet for an equity investment in Creative Reality Entertainment Arts & Music (C.R.E.A.M), the talent discovery and content monetisation platform founded by Nigerian music megastar Mr. Daniel Oladapo Oyebanjo popularly known as D'Banj… The prospective transaction is subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence and final board approval." · Vanguard, 28 June 2025, published same day as the Abuja ceremony: "has sealed a partnership deal"; "acquired equity in the platform owned by D'banj"; "formalised in a ceremony" on the sidelines of AAM2025. · BusinessDay, 28 June 2025, near-identical wording to Vanguard's same-day report: "acquired equity in the platform owned by D'banj," deal "sealed" and "formalised." The two outlets' overlapping phrasing suggests a shared or syndicated source rather than two independently reported accounts. · The Condia, 30 July 2025, matches Afreximbank's own framing: "has signed a term sheet for an equity investment in D'Kings Men Media Ltd"; "the proposed transaction is contingent upon satisfactory completion of due diligence and final board approval." · The Highstreet Journal, 26 July 2025, same framing: "has signed a term sheet for an equity stake"; "the transaction remains subject to due diligence and final board approval." · AllAfrica, 20 November 2025, passing reference inside an unrelated story about a D'Banj/UN youth initiative: "This comes months after Afreximbank acquired an equity stake in the singer's C.R.E.A.M. Platform." Not independently reported there; no new sourcing is given for the claim. · Afreximbank newsroom, 19 February 2026, naming CCInc's other disclosed investments (Clarissa, the unnamed 230-song catalogue) by description. Does not mention D'Kings Men Media Ltd, D'Banj, or C.R.E.A.M. anywhere in the release. · Afreximbank newsroom, 29 July 2026, announcing a CANEX music/video/gaming creator competition with Gebeya. Also does not mention D'Kings Men Media Ltd, D'Banj, or C.R.E.A.M. anywhere in the release.
Read this before citing: TERM SHEET, NOT A CLOSING. Afreximbank's own press release, published a full month after the signing ceremony, describes a signed term sheet "subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence and final board approval," not a completed investment. Two independent trade outlets published in the following days (The Condia, The Highstreet Journal) use the same conditional framing. No source, primary or secondary, states that due diligence closed or that the board approved the investment.
NIGERIAN PRESS CALLED IT DONE THE SAME WEEK. Vanguard and BusinessDay, both published 28 June 2025, the same week as the Abuja signing ceremony, describe the transaction as "sealed," "formalised," and an equity stake already "acquired." Their wording overlaps closely enough to suggest a shared source rather than two independently verified reports, and both were published nearly a month before Afreximbank's own written release used the more conditional "term sheet" language.
NO STAKE, NO PRICE, NO CLOSE DATE. No source checked, including Afreximbank's own account, states what percentage of D'Kings Men Media Ltd CANEX Creations Inc. would hold, what CCInc paid or agreed to pay, or when (or whether) the transaction actually closed.
A LATER PASSING REFERENCE DOES NOT SETTLE IT. AllAfrica's 20 November 2025 story, about an unrelated D'Banj/UN youth initiative, states in passing that Afreximbank "acquired an equity stake" in C.R.E.A.M. This is a background line in a story about something else, not new reporting on the transaction, and it does not cite a source, filing, or statement for the claim.
AFREXIMBANK HAS GONE QUIET ON IT SINCE. CANEX Creations Inc.'s only other two disclosed public investments, a film (Clarissa, announced by Afreximbank's own newsroom in February 2026) and an unnamed 230-song publishing catalogue (disclosed by CEO Osahon Akpata in two 2026 interviews), are each described in later Afreximbank materials without a single mention of D'Kings Men Media Ltd, D'Banj, or C.R.E.A.M. Afreximbank's July 2026 CANEX Create-thon release, announcing a new creator competition in music, video and gaming, also does not mention the platform. An institution that discloses its film slate by name has not reaffirmed this equity position in any newsroom release found since July 2025.
SEPARATE FROM THE 230-SONG CATALOGUE DEAL. This record is distinct from CCInc's separately disclosed investment in an unnamed, ~230-song Afrobeats publishing catalogue administered by Sony Music Publishing, which is covered on its own afw_deal record. The two transactions involve different counterparties and different kinds of rights; neither should be read as corroborating the other's status.
NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED BEYOND PRESS ACCOUNTS. No regulatory filing, Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission record, or statement from D'Banj or D'Kings Men Media Ltd confirming a closing was found. Nigeria's CAC has no public search API available to this desk, so the company's own filings could not be checked directly.
