African Fixed Income |

Bond Bonanza Raises Threshold for New Emerging-Market Debt Sales

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Emerging-market issuance is losing its fizz and bond investors are divided in their appetite for risk after a record year for hard-currency debt. With about $290 billion in placements by borrowers from developing nations so far this year, volumes have been slipping since the second week of April when a slew of multi-tranche deals from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt accounted for half of the $50 billion of bonds…

Senegal Is Said to Attract Almost $10 Billion in Eurobond Bids

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DAKAR (Capital Markets in Africa) – Senegal received more than $10 billion of orders for a $2.2 billion Eurobond on Tuesday as debt from African governments remains in hot demand with yield-hungry investors. The West African nation sold 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) of notes with an average life of nine years and a separate $1 billion 29-year tranche, the Finance Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. The euro notes yielded 4.75 percent and the dollar…

Yields Speak Louder Than Ratings for Emerging-Market Investors

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Emerging-market investors aren’t worrying much about the opinion of ratings companies these days as the hunt for yield outweighs what they consider rear-view assessments. Most of the developing nations that were downgraded in the past six months, including Brazil, Colombia and South Africa, saw their risk premium rise just briefly following the decision before quickly resuming their downward march amid a strong risk-on mood. Part of the explanation is simple. Investors have been…

Futuregrowth Unmoved on Lending as Eskom Eyes Bond Market

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s biggest specialist fixed-income money manager says it’s not quite ready to resume lending to the cash-strapped state electricity company. Cape Town-based Futuregrowth Asset Management, which oversees about 177 billion rand ($15 billion), halted lending to Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. in 2016, citing concerns over governance and financial management. While the publication of overdue financial statements this week was a step in the right direction, Futuregrowth’s position hasn’t…

From Angola to Zimbabwe: Guide to Key Africa Markets in 2018

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – For bond investors, Africa was a happy hunting ground last year. Its local-currency and dollar securities easily outperformed those of emerging markets overall as investors piled into a continent offering high yields and starting to recover from the commodity bust of three years ago. But risks abound, among them policy tightening in advanced economies, local and global politics, weakening currencies and another fall in oil prices. And then there is…

Fitch Ratings Assigns Egypt ‘B’ rating for the new US$1.5bn 2025 Bond

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Cairo, Egypt (Capital Markets in Africa):- Fitch Ratings has assigned Egypt’s US$1.5bn global bond maturing 11 June 2025 a ‘B’ rating. The bonds have a coupon rate of 5.875%. The proceeds will be used for the general budgetary purposes of the government. According to Fitch, the rating is in line with Egypt’s Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook and would be sensitive to changes in Egypt’s Long-term foreign…

Nigeria auctioned 60 billion naira bonds on Wednesday

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Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa):- Bond auction worth N60.0bn for the month of May held on Wednesday for the re-opening of FEB 2020, MAR 2024 and JULY 2034 instruments at N20.0bn. The short, medium and long term bonds re-opened were all oversubscribed with the total N60bn fully allotted. Relative to the auction held in April, marginal rates at the primary market auction on Wednesday fell across tenors on offer. The FEB 2020, MAR 2024…