North Africa
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Lenders have been “very significantly” scaled back in a $1bn loan for Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC), as demand for the pre-export finance deal far surpassed the cross-border trade linked to the loan’s structure.
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Telecom Egypt has launched a $500m five year loan into syndication, with next week’s Eid al-Adha celebrations expected to stretch out the process until around the end of September. -
HSBC has appointed Gareth Thomas as head of global banking for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. He starts in the new job in September.
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More details of Telecom Egypt’s dollar financing have emerged that show the extent of Chinese state support for the company.
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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.
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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.
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National Bank of Egypt (NBE) is due to launch a dollar denominated three year loan imminently.
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Egypt paid a generous spread to access euros on Monday, during a volatile day for emerging market assets.
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Egypt opened books on its debut dual tranche euro issue on Monday, following investor meetings in Europe last week.
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Three CEEMEA issuers are embarking on roadshows — the Arab Republic of Egypt, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Kazmunaygaz.
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The Arab Republic of Egypt has named four banks to manage its first euro-denominated bond sale.
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The pipeline for euro-denominated African bonds is beginning to bulge, with Cote d’Ivoire announcing plans to follow Senegal to the market this week and Tunisia and Egypt preparing their own deals. But, as Virginia Furness reports, while large euro books show there is strong appetite for speculative grade supply, and is opening up a new funding channel for EM borrowers, the cost of funding in the currency versus dollars is unlikely to improve.
