Published: November 14, 2012
Country looks to make amends with creditors through debt restructuring deal.
The Cote d’Ivoire has issued a new tranche of eurobonds as part of a debt restructuring deal with two of its creditors. Standard Bank and creditors of the country's Sphynx issuances, whom the country has failed to pay outstanding sovereign debt, will receive US$186.74mn of 2032 bonds in exchange for existing arrears.
The country will also make $89mn in payments on three coupons, missed in 2010 and 2011, over the next two years. It brings the total amount Cote d’Ivoire owes its creditors to $2.5bn from $2.3bn.
This show of cooperation will go some way to regaining investor confidence after a rocky few years. The country is a serial defaulter, most recently in 2011, after post-electoral violence saw the government declare that it would not make any more payments to bondholders until the start of 2012.
“I don’t think they’ll return to the bond markets anytime soon,” says Samir Gadio, emerging markets strategist at Standard Bank. “Cote d’Ivoire has an IMF programme, so can’t actually borrow on non-concessional terms. It is likely that its return will take place in 2015-16. But this is positive in the sense that the government has been able to clear all outstanding arrears at once. In terms of credibility and external perception, it is a positive step forward.”