South Africa

South Africa is set to come to the market for a dollar bond, despite rising US Treasury yields unsettling bond investors. High yielding emerging markets borrowers are insulated from the volatility in the US govvie market for now, market participants said.

Investec Bank plc, the London and Johannesburg-listed subsidiary of South African banking group Investec, came to the euro bond market on Wednesday to raise debt.

The World Bank’s IFC has provided a $200m loan to Nedbank, which is part of a broader attempt to help South African banks grow their green finance operations.

Impala Platinum Holdings, the South African platinum mining company, has launched a tender offer for half its outstanding rand-denominated convertible bonds.

The coronavirus pandemic means many parts of the US are experiencing an unusual festive period. But emerging markets sovereigns broke another Thanksgiving tradition by flooding primary bond markets with new deals on what is usually a quiet week for new issues — even as levels of stress are rising sharply at the riskier end of the asset class. Oliver West and Mariam Meskin report.

South African pulp and paper company Sappi has tapped the equity-linked market for financing with a new five-year R1.8bn ($120m) convertible bond.

South African commercial landlord Growthpoint Properties has sold R4.3bn ($275m) of new shares to fund deleveraging, including repaying debt used to finance its acquisition of Capital & Regional at the end of 2019.

South Africa's Standard Bank, which is 20% owned by ICBC, has raised a syndicated loan from a consortium of Chinese lenders. The transaction marks one of the few spots of activity in a market that has almost halved in size this year.

Trade and Development Bank and Standard Bank, have approached lenders to raise syndicated loans, despite the sort of price widening that has pushed many borrowers away from the loan market this year.

South Africa’s Standard Bank is set to raise a syndicated loan by the end of the month, which, according to market sources, will be provided by Chinese banks. But bankers say the pipeline for syndicated loans in Africa and the Middle East remains nearly empty, as both lenders and borrowers continue to feel the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prosus made a barnstorming debut outing in the European bond market after Monday’s dollar trade, with the ecommerce and investment company that straddles investment grade and emerging market investor interest seeing €13.5bn of demand for a €1bn deal.

Junk-rated South Africa has found some relief from its ballooning fiscal deficit through multilateral institutions, which are helping prop up its battered economy. Though the government has supported domestic lenders, there may yet be opportunities for them to enter international markets, some believe.