Africa Bonds

Emerging market bankers believe there is only around a fortnight left for CEEMEA borrowers to tap the market. But investors showed they were still keen active this week as two African sovereigns approached the market — Kenya printing a tap of the $2bn dual trancher it sold in June and Ethiopia announcing roadshow dates for a debut bond that bankers away from the deal said is likely to be a $1bn 10 year.

The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) has priced a $500m debut sukuk at just 15bp over three month Libor, the tight end of its earlier 15bp-17bp guidance range.

Kenya tapped its 2019 and 2024 bonds on Tuesday paying no premium, by some estimates, to its outstanding bonds and growing the longer dated deal to $2bn, the biggest single tranche from a sub-Saharan African borrower.

The Republic of Kenya has released initial price thoughts for a tap of its $500m 2019s and $1.5bn 2020s that equate to a 20bp new issue premium. The tap will be priced later on Tuesday.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation on Tuesday auctioned $590m of three month commercial paper style sukuk – increasing the amount of paper in circulation at reissue by $200m.

South Africa’s FirstRand bank was the latest in a long line of pulled deals from CEEMEA on Thursday when it pulled a five year dollar bond on Thursday after announcing initial price thoughts.

MTN issuance in Africa could be set for a boom over the next six to 12 months, as dealers receive an increasing number of reverse enquiries.

African MTNs may be on the verge of a boom. International banks are receiving an increasing number of reverse enquiries for privately placed MTNs, and these could finally provide African issuers with access to international bond markets in a size that suits them. Obstacles still remain but this business should be encouraged.

Cote d'Ivoire's Shelter Afrique will not tap the Eurobond market for at least another 18 months, said Godfrey Waweru, director of finance for the housing finance company.

Having used the proceeds of its recent landmark sukuk deal for pre-funding its 2015 borrowing requirement, South Africa is only planning to issue $1bn in the international debt capital markets next year.

Nigeria is not planning to tap the international debt capital markets in 2015, but its next conventional dollar bond will likely be a 30 year and the country is also considering other markets such as Asian currencies and sukuk, Abraham Nwankwo, director general of the country’s debt management office told GlobalCapital.

Banks are receiving more and more reverse enquiries for MTNs and the smaller sizes and potentially less onerous documentation would suit many African issuers better than benchmark funding at this stage. The combination of these factors means that African MTN issuance is set to boom in the next six to 12 months, said Matt Duggan, a syndicate official at Absa/Barclays in Johannesburg.