Africa Bonds

Opinion polls indicate that South Africa’s incumbent African National Congress party and president, Cyril Ramaphosa, will win the country’s hotly contested general election, held on Wednesday, with a reduced majority. Bankers expect financing business to return to normal soon, after pausing in the run-up to the election.

Gold Fields, a South Africa-headquartered mining company, sold its $1bn dual tranche bond on Wednesday at a spread that looked historically tight to comparable issuer, AngloGold. It attracted $3bn of orders despite national elections on the same day.

Two African borrowers are set to hit the road for dollar bonds, extending a run of deals from the continent after a slow start to the year.

Gold Fields Limited, a gold producer with operating mines in Australia, Ghana, Peru and South Africa, is embarking on a roadshow to market a five to 10 year dollar benchmark.

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Ecobank launched its debut bond on April 11, but less than a week later, the price has shot up by between four and five points, prompting questions about the bond’s execution.

Ecobank Transnational, the pan-African bank based in Togo, hit screens this week for a five year dollar benchmark — its first ever bond.

The new World Bank president used his first public statement to pledge to increase efforts to ensure China was more transparent in its lending to Africa.

Ecobank Transnational, the pan-African banking group based in Togo, has set the yield for a $400m five year bond at 9.75%. The size indicated is at the lower end of the $400m-$500m range it suggested earlier in the day.

The Arab Republic of Egypt on Thursday printed a €2bn dual tranche euro deal with a massive negative new issue premium of 22bp on the longer bond — one of the largest ever negative concessions on an EM issue. The deal takes Standard Chartered to the top of Dealogic’s league table of CEEMEA bonds, though it is a title to be only briefly held as the Saudi Aramco jumbo bond is expected next week, which other banks are arranging.

The Arab Republic of Egypt has released initial price guidance for its dual tranche euro bond at levels that two lead managers said were around 40bp back of its curve.

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