Africa

The party looks to be over in emerging market bonds leaving borrowers with one heck of a funding hangover. Years of low rates have prompted a debt splurge from borrowers able to fund at ever lower coupons. But just as dollar rates are on the increase, those credits are racing towards a $2tr maturity wall and the problem of how to refinance it in a market that has presented clear symptoms of risk fatigue this year shows no sign of abating. Lewis McLellan and Francesca Young report.

It was never going to last. Bitcoin has ended its three month holiday from volatility and begun to crash once more. The cryptocurrency market is looking for a new floor.

Cameroon’s Nachtigal Hydro Power Co has raised euro loans, estimated at above €900m, to fund construction of a €1.2bn 420MW hydroelectric plant on the Sanaga river near Yaounde. Most of the debt is coming from development finance institutions, but a few commercial banks are involved.

Bharti Airtel, the Indian telecommunications conglomerate, has named an eight bank syndicate for the 2019 flotation of its Africa business, Airtel Africa.

Société Générale has agreed to pay $1.34bn in fines and an enhanced monitoring programme for violating US sanctions against Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Myanmar and North Korea, according to notices issued by US agencies on Monday.

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Nigeria was on Wednesday able to print the full size of the bond issue approved by its parliament, paying up for the privilege but drawing praise for managing a market that proved too tough for many.

MetLife, the US insurance company, has made an unusual investment as part of its impact investment portfolio, which has about $200m of assets. It is providing a revolving credit facility to an impact investment fund, to enable it to cope more easily with redemptions.

Nigeria is back in capital markets, undeterred by a volatile backdrop that has kept other borrowers from accessing the market.

Two emerging market borrowers have been forced to postpone planned deals this week, with investors demanding better yields to risk their cash in the volatile market.

Steinhoff’s multi-billion euro equivalent debt restructuring saga took another step forward this week, with the company receiving High Court approval to press on with a scheme of arrangement related to its US subsidiary Mattress Firm.

Nigeria hit screens on Monday afternoon to announce a roadshow for a triple tranche dollar bond, confirming rumours of a planned capital markets return that began circulating last week.