Nigeria

Bond market participants are eagerly anticipating a trade from Nigeria in the coming weeks, which would be the seventh sub-Saharan African sovereign new issue since the start of the year, with issuers making the most of the hunger for high yielding credits.

Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company Seplat Petroleum entered the international bond markets on Thursday seeking to raise dollar funding. As primary issuance re-starts in the CEEMEA region, Seplat is one of a few high yielding names testing the temperature.

A number of sub-Saharan African sovereigns are eyeing the Eurobond market, after a year that saw dismally low levels of capital markets issuance from the region. But investors are still on the hunt for yield, market participants say, which can be found in abundance in Africa.

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Ecobank Nigeria, part of the pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational, was set to raise dollar debt in the bond market on Wednesday, underscoring investors' appetite for exposure to sub-Saharan Africa.

Ecobank Nigeria, a member of the pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational, has mandated banks to arrange a dollar bond after a hiatus from the market.

Nigeria’s Bank of Industry, which is majority state-owned, has raised a $1bn syndicated loan in one of the rare sparks of emerging market loan activity over the last 12 months. After a disappointing year, bankers are longing for a return to pre-Covid issuance volumes.

First Bank of Nigeria became the first African bank to print a eurobond in 2020 on Tuesday, raising $350m despite a turbulent backdrop in Nigeria.

Africa Finance Corp, the pan-African development finance institution, printed its first green bond on Monday – the first in Swiss francs from a CEEMEA supranational.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the pan-African development finance institution, has held investor calls ahead of its first green bond issue that Swiss franc bankers expect to launch next week.

The Africa Finance Corporation, the pan-African development finance institution (DFI), has mandated a pair of banks to lead its first ever green bond issue, which it will sell publicly into the Swiss franc market.

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