emeafinance News - May 2009
Afren raises cash to develop oil field
West African oil independent Afren has raised £84.8mn (US$126.3mn) by a placing of 265mn new ordinary shares of 1 penny each in the capital of the company with institutional investors at 32 pence per share.
UAE pulls out of GGC monetary union project
The UAE has announced it intends to leave the GCC monetary union project, reportedly over concerns about plans to locate the union's central bank in Riyadh. Analysts say its departure leaves the project in disarray.
DCM May round-up: sovereigns strong, corporates returning
The EMEA debt capital markets re-opened in May, with new issuance particularly strong in the sovereign sector, as investors re-gained their appetite for emerging market issuance.
Vodacom defies critics with listing and sale to Vodafone
Vodacom, the South African mobile phone company, overcame last-minute political obstacles to successfully raise US$3.5bn in its listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on May 18. The company also sold a 15% stake to Vodafone, giving the UK mobile company a 65% controlling stake in the firm.
Stemcor loan cheers commodity finance market
Stemcor, the UK-based steel trader, cheered the commodity finance market with a US$480mn renewal of its revolving credit facility. The new loan is US$80mn more than the company hoped to raise.
Russia’s MTS signs syndicated loan facility
Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, has signed a facility agreement to refinance a portion of its US$1.33bn syndicated loan facility.
Standard Chartered makes senior capital markets appointment
Standard Chartered has appointed Tee Choon Hong as managing director, regional head of capital markets for North East Asia. Tee is based in Hong Kong and will report directly to Christian Wait, global head of capital markets.
BNYM expands treasury services in EMEA
The Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM) has further strengthened its treasury services operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with new appointments in Brussels, Frankfurt, Cairo and London.
AngloGold Ashanti offers convertible bonds
AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third-largest producer of the metal, announced the pricing of an offering of US$650mn convertible bonds due 2014 by its wholly-owned subsidiary, AngloGold Ashanti Holdings Finance.
South Africa meets strong demand for 10-year Eurobond
South Africa issued a 10-year foreign bond worth US$1.5bn on May 19. It was priced at +375 basis points over US Treasuries.
Citigroup FIG head joins Credit Suisse as EMEA VC
Christopher Williams, Citigroup's global co-head of FIG, is leaving the bank to become vice-chairman of EMEA investment banking at Credit Suisse.
Kazkommertsbank announces results of its capital increase
Kazkommertsbank, one of the largest banks in
Bahrain-based The International Banking Corp defaults
Bahrain-based The International Banking Corp (TIBC) has defaulted on some of its debt since the beginning of May, despite the fact that TIBC holds a large portfolio, mainly made up of shares listed in Saudi Arabia, valued at more than US$400mn on December 31, 2008, according to Standard & Poor’s.
CEEMEA syndicated lending volumes down 78% YTD
Syndicated lending to Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa has fallen by 78% year-to-date compared with the same period in 2008, according to Dealogic.
Banks race to raise billions in new capital
US banks are scrambling to raise billions of dollars in equity, in order to pay back funds they have borrowed from the US government. Investors, meanwhile, have regained faith in financial stocks.
Emaar to hire 1,600 new staff in three months
Emaar Properties is creating over 1,600 new jobs in its shopping malls & retail and hospitality & leisure businesses. With the new addition, Emaar will have nearly 4,000 employees on its rolls in Dubai.
Jabal Omar cancels deal with Jadwa to raise US$3.3bn
Saudi Arabia’s Jabal Omar Development Company has terminated a contract with the local investment bank Jadwa Investment to raise SR12.2bn (US$3.3bn) to finance the development of a real estate project in Mecca.
Latvian PM to axe government spending
The newly-appointed prime minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis, says his government is prepared to cut government spending by up to 40% in order to reduce the budget deficit and meet IMF austerity measures.
WSE to launch municipal and corporate bond trading
The Warsaw Stock Exchange is to launch trading in municipal and corporate bonds this year, says the exchange's CEO.
Libya Foreign Bank looks to 10-fold capital increase
State-owned Libya Foreign Bank (LFB) plans to increase its capital 10-fold, from US$1bn to US$10bn, "in the next two to three years", according to the bank's chairman, Mohammad Bait-Elmal.
Donors pledge US$1.3bn for North-South corridor project
Western donors including the World Bank, African Development Bank and the UK government, pledged US$1.3bn in aid at a summit in early April, to help improve travel infrastructure on the North-South corridor connecting northern and southern Africa.
Europe Arab Bank appoints new head of credit
Europe Arab Bank has announced the appointment of a new head of credit.
UBS chooses Papazian for Islamic finance
UBS has appointed Armen Papazian as head of Islamic finance based in the firm's DIFC branch in the UAE.
New chairmen for Turkey's Vakifbank
Vakifbank's board of directors elected Yusuf Beyazit as chairman and Ragıp Dogu as vice-chairman.
