Africa

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.

MTN Zakhele, a black economic empowerment scheme, has unwound its position in MTN Group, the South African mobile telecoms company, through the first block trade in the company’s shares for six years.

South African assets were facing another week of uncertainty as reports emerged on Monday that ANC leaders were preparing a vote of no confidence against president Jacob Zuma and traders warned of the potential for a ratings downgrade on Friday.

The busy equity block trade action, widely predicted by ECM bankers when the US presidential election produced a bounce in share prices, has continued this week with a string of sales totalling over $1.5bn.

Rhodes Food Group, the South African producer of canned food and ready meals, has completed a R663m ($46m) capital increase, through an accelerated bookbuild launched on Wednesday night.

HSBC's Bryan Pascoe, former head of DCM and more recently group treasurer, has switched jobs at the bank to become global head of client coverage in its commercial banking division.

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.

In this round-up, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange saw surges in trading of offshore RMB (CNH) futures, BMO became the first Canadian bank to become market maker for CAD-RMB direct trading, and the country of Djibouti is launching a Silk Road Bank. Plus a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

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.

Daily portfolio flows to emerging markets have fallen since the US election, with the seven day moving average declining to its the lowest level since August 2015, according to the Institute of International Finance.

Bayer, the German life sciences group, picked Tuesday night to launch the first part of its $19bn equity financing for its $66bn takeover of Monsanto. Bayer's deal comes as equity markets are revitalised by the new conviction that Western policy is shifting to reflation.