Africa

Kenya will have its work cut out to reassure investors after Moody’s cut its credit rating by a notch on Tuesday. Rival bankers said the clash is poor planning, but the leads on Kenya’s upcoming roadshow said investors should be doing their own credit work, reopening the debate about the relevance of ratings agencies in emerging markets.

The Arab Republic of Egypt printed its $4bn triple tranche bond on Tuesday from a book that peaked at $12.5bn, despite another EM issuer — Russia's GTLK — having to postpone because of market volatility. A rival syndicate banker called the note cheap, but necessarily so.

The Arab Republic of Egypt is providing the first big test of the resilience of emerging market debt since last week's volatility with a triple tranche dollar bond. Bankers eyeing the trade say the book size, and amount of price revision, will be a real indicator of investor appetite for riskier EM debt now the shine has come off the market.

Kenya has mandated banks for its first Eurobond since 2014, and is looking to extend its curve by 24 years to join the handful of sub-Saharan African borrowers that have tapped the 30 year part of the curve.

GlobalCapital revealed the winners of its 2017 Loan Awards at its annual Loans and Leveraged Finance Awards Dinner at Gibson Hall in London on February 7. The full results are below: GlobalCapital congratulates all the winners and nominees.

US oil and gas company Kosmos Energy, which operates in Africa, has refinanced a reserve-based lending facility signed in 2015.

Endeavour Mining, the Toronto-listed, UK-headquartered gold exploration company active in west Africa, has raised $300m to refinance debt with a debut five year convertible bond issue that was well subscribed, according to several sources close to the deal.

Aviva Investors has brought in experienced analyst Carmen Altenkirch as a sovereign analyst on its emerging market debt team.

Shares in Steinhoff have fallen by over 12% in trading on Tuesday as the firm informed the Dutch regulator that it would not be publishing its 2017 financial results by January 31.

Banks across the Street have sought to woo shareholders with business models that celebrate the holy matrimony between Steady Eddie wealth management and (supposedly) reformed wild child investment banking. But the repercussions on bank earnings from the demise of South African retailer Steinhoff are a reminder that the course of true love never did run smooth.

Investec plc, the South African bank’s UK branch, has signed a loan for $450m — growing to more than double its launch amount of $200m after being three times subscribed.

Steinhoff International has sold a second chunk of its stake in PSG Group, the South African financial services company, in as many months, as Steinhoff struggles to stabilise itself after its disastrous revelation that three years' accounts will need restating.