Africa Bonds

Investors and bankers last week called the end of African sovereign private placements, citing the hiccups of Angola, Tanzania and Mozambique. But all three of these bonds have proved good purchases for investors, and it is hard to see when African issuers will start turning down easy money.

The CNY NDIRS curve is steeper after a stronger CNY fix backed light offers in the short end while improved price data triggered paying around the five year tenor. Meanwhile, Nigeria is considering issuing a Panda bond, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

The Brics bank is to finally make its capital markets debut later this month by issuing green bonds in RMB with the proceeds to be channelled into energy and infrastructure projects, sources have told Emerging Markets, a sister publication of GlobalCapital Asia.

South Africa raised $1.25bn with its latest SEC registered bond on Thursday, amid a slew of negative headlines and what bankers described as a weak market backdrop.

Republic of Mozambique completed a successful debt exchange this week, but the deal heralds the swansong of African private placements, according to senior emerging market bankers. Virginia Furness reports.

The Republic of Mozambique’s new 2023 sovereign bonds, the result of a debt exchange of bonds sold by the state owned tuna fishing company Ematum, rallied around 20 points in the secondary market on Thursday, despite complaints over a ‘surprise’ loan.

Strong demand was expected to propel South Africa’s new 10 year note to a successful conclusion, with a 35bp-50bp concession tantalising investors before the US open, despite a political crisis in the country.

South Africa is looking to add another point to its dollar curve and has mandated banks for a 2026 bond amid attempts to impeach its president, Jacob Zuma.

When Mozambique was forced to disclose a near $800m bilateral agreement part way through the exchange offer for Ematum bonds, investors were angry. But even with that last hiccup, they’ve been gifted a bargain.

Republic of Mozambique’s new 2023 sovereign bonds, the result of a debt exchange process of Ematum bonds, are due to settle on Wednesday. But some investors are claiming the process has done lasting damage to the country's reputation in the capital markets.

Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Mozambique’s foreign currency rating after what it considers to be a distressed debt exchange of state-run tuna company Ematum’s 2020 notes.

The International Finance Corporation on Wednesday placed the first bond denominated in Namibian dollars from an issuer outside the country.