Africa

South Africa's Investec Bank signed a $635m loan on Friday. The loan is its seventh since the beginning of last year, as it raises funds ahead of potential ratings downgrades.

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.

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.

MTN Côte d’Ivoire is raising a $225m-equivalent loan in West African francs while parent company MTN Group, the South Africa-based mobile telecommunications firm, continues negotiations with the Nigerian government over a $5.1bn fine.

Standard Bank Kenya (also known as Stanbic CfC) will sign its loan on Thursday, while multilateral African bank AFC has nearly completed its $150m deal.

Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) launched its $500m loan refinancing on Wednesday after over a year in the making.

Spar Group, the South African grocery and home improvement wholesaler, raised R2.2bn ($143m) of new capital in a successful accelerated bookbuild on Tuesday night.

Kenya has mandated three banks for a non-deal roadshow and is “expecting” questions around the rumours about alleged misuse of funds from its last Eurobond outing in 2014.

Egypt’s Banque Misr is finalising its second syndicated loan in over a decade, a murabaha deal for $200m.

Ghana is undertaking a non-deal roadshow at the start of April.

Sappi Papier, the Austrian-South African paper manufacturer, sold €350m of secured notes at 4% to refinance its 2021 dollar bond, in a European high yield market that has brought forward its post-Easter pipeline of deals.