Africa Loans

Though Egypt is reeling from the central bank’s action to float its currency last month two Egyptian borrowers are in the market for hard currency loans this week, but unsecured corporate loans will be slower to come, said bankers.

The Egyptian subsidiary of Abu Dhabi telecoms firm Etisalat is raising a $278m loan described as having “UAE pricing” because — despite the currency risks involved in Egyptian loans — the deal is secured by the borrower’s offshore foreign currency revenues, according to bankers.

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) signed a $872m loan this week at its lowest margin for a two year syndicated deal, according to two bankers on the deal. The borrower also increased the deal size from $600m in syndication.

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) started signing banks to join its third syndicated loan of the year this week. African multilateral banks have raised more in syndicated loans in 2016 than in any other year, according to Dealogic.

Caa1 rated Banque Misr is syndicating a loan with a longer than usual tenor of five years, though a guarantee from the Egyptian central bank will help drive demand, according to two bankers away from the deal.

The African Export-Import Bank has launched its new money loan into general syndication with 12 lead banks for three tranches of two and three years.

Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Airways has launched a Schuldschein for €150m denominated in euros and dollars, the first ever for a Middle East borrower, according to one market participant.

While Access Bank safely landed its dollar Eurobond last week, the outlook for Nigerian banks seeking new loans is cloudy.

Fitch has removed Afreximbank from rating watch negative, partly because of its “excellent” risk mitigants, as the development bank continues to arrange a loan of at least $750m.

The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA) lowered the margin on the two year tranche of its $400m refinancing and added a three year clip for the first time.

African Export-Import Bank is close to announcing the lead banks in its $750m loan, in a deal which will have a large top tier, according to one banker.

The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA) completed its loan refinancing last week and grew the deal from $320.5m to $400m in syndication after strong support from lenders, according to a lead banker.