Africa Bonds

Good environment, social and corporate governance practices are moving from a bonus for investors to a commercial necessity, which is likely to add extra challenges for investors and issuers in Africa.

The sharp sell off in emerging market bonds, caused by the severe volatility in US Treasuries on Wednesday, has hit Africa bond markets the hardest. A “perfect storm” has engulfed the continent’s bonds — EM investors alarmed by the Treasuries move, falling oil prices and continued fears around the spread of Ebola combined to smash any remaining resolve left in investors trading in African bonds.

Don’t switch off. Ebola may not have hit your P&L yet, but it’s going to, soon, and hard, whatever your job is. And look at the charts. The logic is inexorable: the longer we take to overcome the disease, the worse the cost will be – for the global economy and in human life. This is not about a few percentage points of GDP. Modern civilisation itself is at risk.

Côte d’Ivoire has developed a taste for the international capital markets. After a successful $750m Eurobond in July, prime minister and finance minister Daniel Kablan Duncan tells Emerging Markets about his plans to raise $1bn on the international markets

The Republic of Tunisia looks set to join the growing number of sovereign borrowers to issue a debut sukuk in 2014, having requested proposals from banks for a five year deal before the end of the year.

The Republic of Tunisia looks set to join the growing number of sovereign borrowers to issue a debut sukuk in 2014, having requested proposals from banks for a five year deal before the end of the year.

Global investors are looking at southern Africa as the outlook for the region’s economic growth is revised upwards

The Central Bank of Tunisia printed a ¥50bn 10 year bond on Wednesday from a ¥110bn book. The note was priced at par with a coupon of 1.61% to give a spread of 90bp over swaps — a much wider spread than Turkey paid for its own Japan Bank for International Cooperation-backed deal in September.

Seven Energy made a successful comeback in testing conditions on Thursday. While it certainly paid for the privilege, having already secured strong anchor orders before proceeding, the trade signals that the miserable high yield market may be improving.

Seven Energy is about to make it second time lucky, as it readies to price a seven year non-call four offering on Thursday.

Nigerian oil and gas firm, Seven Energy is out with guidance for its comeback bond. The leads have set a wider guidance than was offered in July, when the borrower had to abort a deal, and will be hoping that the poor performance of this week’s markets doesn’t blight its return.

Nigerian oil and gas firm Seven Energy is returning to the bond market after postponing a deal in late July, this time in a stronger position with commitments from two supranationals. It bodes well for a deal that a pack of prospective Africa corporate borrowers will be watching carefully, said bankers on the deal.