Access Bank to Sell Nigeria’s First Eurobond for Two Years

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Access Bank Plc will start an investor roadshow Tuesday as it prepares to issue the first Eurobond from Nigeria in almost two years.

Nigeria’s fourth-largest lender by assets will meet investors in the U.S. and Europe through Oct. 3 and wants to sell five-year debt, according to Chief Executive Officer Herbert Wigwe. Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will arrange the deal, he said.

“It will be for working capital, for lending to investment-grade names,” including Nigerian companies seeking to expand their exports, Wigwe, based in the commercial hub of Lagos, said by phone Monday. He didn’t say how much Access Bank intends to raise.

It would be the first Eurobond out of Nigeria since October 2014, when oil company Seven Energy Finance Ltd. issued $300 million of securities. That year, Nigerian companies and banks including Access Bank, Zenith Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc sold $2.55 billion of dollar debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Nigerian government, which is planning to raise $1 billion this year, last tapped the Eurobond market in 2013.

Access Bank, which has $12 billion of assets, has two deals outstanding — a $350 million senior bond due in July next year and a subordinated one of $400 million maturing in June 2021. Yields on the securities due next year have dropped to 7.71 percent from more than 11 percent in January.

The lender is rated B or its equivalent, five levels below investment grade, by Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.