South Africa

Anglo American, the South African mining company now headquartered in London, returned to the sterling bond market after an 11 year absence on Wednesday, the day after an upgrade by Standard & Poor’s to BBB (stable), and two days after a parallel raise by Moody’s.

A number of top tier South African banks are expected to hit the loan market in the coming months, and bankers are welcoming what are some of the most attractive credits on the continent. But the country faces a number of dilemmas, which threaten to thump its credit ratings, writes Mariam Meskin.

An equity capital markets banker at Rand Merchant Bank has left the bank to study for an MBA at Insead.

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.

South Africa is embarking on a series of investor update meetings, with no deal planned to follow.

Old Mutual has launched a sale of shares in Nedbank Group Ltd, one of South Africa’s largest banks, on behalf of some of its investors who could not receive them as part of the bank’s unbundling from the Old Mutual Group, which was announced last month.

Steinhoff has asked its creditors for a one month extension on its multi-billion euro debt restructuring process, with the South African retailer saying on Monday that it needs longer to finalise documentation.

South African chemicals and energy company Sasol has released initial price thoughts on a dual tranche dollar bond on Thursday morning in London.

Shares in Investec, the Anglo-South African banking group, rose 8.7% on Friday after it announced that it had decided to spin off and list its asset management unit, following a strategic review.

African borrowers will soon add a new flavour to the wave of Middle Eastern issuance that has so far dominated the autumn pipeline.

South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) has sent a freedom of information (FOI) request for full terms of a $2.5bn-equivalent loan from China to utility Eskom, with the official opposition party fearing a potential loss of ownership of the company to its Asian creditors.

South African precious metals mining company Sibanye Stillwater has launched a tender process to repurchase some of its high yield and convertible bonds.