Africa Loans

South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare has signed syndicated loans totalling around €3.4bn-equivalent, in a deal that saw the sort of chunky oversubscription that lenders say will be commonplace throughout the year, because of lack of supply.

Egypt’s Banque Misr is looking to raise dollar funding from the loan market, according to lenders, continuing the trend of financial institutions in the country raising international bank debt.

Arab Republic of Egypt’s bonds have rallied 50bp since last week with investors acting on a positive endorsement from Standard & Poor’s. Analysts say that any positive signals or third party endorsements will become increasingly important to the buyside as credit differentiation comes into play.

National Bank of Egypt (NBE) is due to launch a dollar denominated three year loan imminently.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is in the midst of its first annual meeting in the Middle East, and its president has again floated the idea of another big expansion of the bank’s remit to include sub-Saharan Africa.

Stanbic Bank Kenya has signed a $100m dual tranche loan as lenders prepare for more deals from sub-Saharan Africa’s financial institutions.

Nigerian banks have found their loan market verve this year with one syndicated transaction near close and another due to launch soon, as pent up demand tempts borrowers back into the market.

Seven new banks have joined Stanbic Kenya's loan, which will be signed on Thursday, leading to a heavy oversubscription, but the borrower declined to take any more money than the $100m it had set out to raise.

Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has sent off invitations to its annual financing for its cocoa harvest amid concerns it may struggle to repay its previous loan.

Investec Bank plc has signed a A$150m ($115.3m) loan to refinance a loan signed in 2015, attracting a total of 18 banks to the deal — the majority of which came from Asia.

Investec Bank has benefited from South Africa’s political turn for the better, with pricing tightened on a $300m loan refinancing and Asian banks flocking to another loan for its UK branch.

Standard Bank’s Kenya branch is looking to raise $100m in the loan market, ahead of a maturity coming up for one of its loans in October.