Africa

South Africa’s FirstRand Bank issued the first Basel III compliant tier two bond from the country on Monday, as South Africa’s banks look to capitalise on improving sentiment towards the country to diversify away from a ready domestic market.

FirstRand Bank was on track to open the market for South African tier two issuance ahead of Barclays Africa, which is lining up a trade for later this week.

Growthpoint, the Johannesburg-listed property company, is returning to the market after its deal was derailed last December by the fall of retail giant Steinhoff.

The South African equity market got the trade it had been waiting for this week when Steinhoff International, the embattled retail conglomerate, sold a portion of its stake in Steinhoff Africa Retail, the African subsidiary it span off last year, to raise funds to reduce its debt.

Equities bankers are trumpeting a wave of new enthusiasm for Africa and two new deals are set to try to capitalise on this momentum.

Seven new banks have joined Stanbic Kenya's loan, which will be signed on Thursday, leading to a heavy oversubscription, but the borrower declined to take any more money than the $100m it had set out to raise.

Egypt paid a generous spread to access euros on Monday, during a volatile day for emerging market assets.

Yvette Babb, a strategist in JP Morgan’s emerging markets research team, has joined NN Investment Partners.

FirstRand Bank has announced plans for a three day global roadshow ahead of a planned inaugural dollar-denominated tier two issue.

Egypt opened books on its debut dual tranche euro issue on Monday, following investor meetings in Europe last week.

Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has sent off invitations to its annual financing for its cocoa harvest amid concerns it may struggle to repay its previous loan.

Consol Holdings, the South African glass packaging company, plans to return to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange after filing an intention to float on Thursday.