Published: April 30, 2018
African sovereigns make rare outing into euros
Senegal and the Ivory Coast visited the euro markets for bonds in the first quarter, with investors demanding increasingly chunky spreads in order to successfully break new ground in the currency.
Senegal, rated Ba3 by Moody’s and B+ by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), was first out of the gates, raising a debut €1bn 4.75% 2028 bond on March 7 alongside a more run-of-the-mill US$1bn 6.75% 2048 year security.
The transaction was arranged by BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Natixis, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered.
It hit a number of milestones, both for the issuer and the wider African borrowing community, including being the sovereign’s largest ever bond, its first in euros, its longest dollar deal ever and, according to Societe Generale, the tightest yield ever achieved by a sub Saharan sovereign, not including South Africa, at the 30 year part of the curve.