South Africa

South African lender Absa has mandated banks for an additional tier one dollar offering. Absa is the latest domestic bank to enter international debt markets despite the absence of the sovereign.

South African investment company Remgro has reduced its stake in FirstRand, one of the country’s largest financial services groups, via an accelerated bookbuild.

South African lender Investec has secured a syndicated loan facility, with a consortium of 29 international banks. Bank borrowers are continuing to lean on their relationship lenders in South Africa, though the environment in the country remains challenging.

South Africa is set to come to the market for a dollar bond, despite rising US Treasury yields unsettling bond investors. High yielding emerging markets borrowers are insulated from the volatility in the US govvie market for now, market participants said.

Investec Bank plc, the London and Johannesburg-listed subsidiary of South African banking group Investec, came to the euro bond market on Wednesday to raise debt.

The World Bank’s IFC has provided a $200m loan to Nedbank, which is part of a broader attempt to help South African banks grow their green finance operations.

Impala Platinum Holdings, the South African platinum mining company, has launched a tender offer for half its outstanding rand-denominated convertible bonds.

The coronavirus pandemic means many parts of the US are experiencing an unusual festive period. But emerging markets sovereigns broke another Thanksgiving tradition by flooding primary bond markets with new deals on what is usually a quiet week for new issues — even as levels of stress are rising sharply at the riskier end of the asset class. Oliver West and Mariam Meskin report.

South African pulp and paper company Sappi has tapped the equity-linked market for financing with a new five-year R1.8bn ($120m) convertible bond.

South African commercial landlord Growthpoint Properties has sold R4.3bn ($275m) of new shares to fund deleveraging, including repaying debt used to finance its acquisition of Capital & Regional at the end of 2019.

South Africa's Standard Bank, which is 20% owned by ICBC, has raised a syndicated loan from a consortium of Chinese lenders. The transaction marks one of the few spots of activity in a market that has almost halved in size this year.

Trade and Development Bank and Standard Bank, have approached lenders to raise syndicated loans, despite the sort of price widening that has pushed many borrowers away from the loan market this year.