Kenya

The Republic of Kenya has released initial price guidance for its latest bond issue, which two emerging markets bond investors deemed generous.

The hopes of emerging markets participants proved well founded on Wednesday when US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell pulled back from the aggressive trajectory of rate hikes previously promised.

Thirteen emerging market sovereigns will face their first bond market redemptions over the next seven years and, with financing conditions set to become more difficult, market participants are watching them carefully.

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.

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.

Kenya printed a $2bn dual tranche bond this week from a combined book of $14bn as investors continued to pile into emerging market credits they favour.

Kenya looked to have adopted the same pricing strategy as its African peers on Wednesday, opening books on a dual tranche 2028 and 2048 bond with a chunky concession, much like Egypt and Nigeria last week.

The new bond issues may be flowing in emerging markets, but after weeks of volatility, the era of easy execution is over.

Kenya will have its work cut out to reassure investors after Moody’s cut its credit rating by a notch on Tuesday. Rival bankers said the clash is poor planning, but the leads on Kenya’s upcoming roadshow said investors should be doing their own credit work, reopening the debate about the relevance of ratings agencies in emerging markets.

Kenya has mandated banks for its first Eurobond since 2014, and is looking to extend its curve by 24 years to join the handful of sub-Saharan African borrowers that have tapped the 30 year part of the curve.

Exotix Capital has brought on three new hires to its frontier markets research team ahead of the introduction of MiFID II.

Kenya’s largest power producer Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) is looking to raise $300m in the loan market, which the World Bank is providing a $180m guarantee for.