Africa Bonds

The Arab Republic of Egypt has hired a group of international banks to arrange its debut green bond. Though the deal will be the first sovereign issue of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region, it adds to a string of green issuance from corporates and banks, which are developing a taste for ESG-linked debt.

Frontier market bond issuance dropped in 2019, with sovereign issuance at its lowest figure since 2011, amid signs that private-sector creditors are pulling back from riskier countries.

Nabil Lahham has joined HSBC to head up advisory and corporate finance coverage for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. He was most recently at Perella Weinberg Partners.

Long duration bonds, such as Ghana’s 40 year tranche sold this week, are a great idea for African issuers, leaving the borrower’s ability to manage its debt in its own hands rather than at the whims of the market.

The Republic of Ghana printed a $3bn triple trancher on Tuesday from a book that was $14bn at launch, in a deal that included the longest ever bond from sub-Saharan Africa.

The Republic of Ghana has released price guidance for a dollar amortising triple tranche bond, including a deal with a 40 year weighted average life — the longest ever from a sub-Saharan African issuer, according to a lead manager on the note.

The Gabonese Republic pulled in more than $3bn of demand on Thursday for a $1bn 10 year bond that some observers saw as having been priced flat to its curve.

The Gabonese Republic has released price guidance on its first benchmark Eurobond since 2015.

The Republic of Ghana is visiting investors in the US and London with a plan to print a dollar benchmark. But the delegation’s rumoured size has led to surprises before the meetings have started.

The risk that huge amounts of oil and gas assets will be stranded by moves to tackle the climate emergency may be more pertinent for sovereign credit than for private sector corporate debt, according to new research.

The World Bank made its first visit to the Rwandan franc market last week, place what Dealogic indicates is the first deal in the currency since 2015.

Prosus, the international internet business spun off by South Africa-headquartered Naspers in September, has released initial pricing guidance for a 10 year dollar benchmark at a level two analysts called attractive, given the company’s 31% stake in Chinese tech giant Tencent.