Ghana’s $3 Billion Bonds Get Bids More Than 6 Times the Offering

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s $3 billion Eurobond offering on Tuesday attracted bids that were more than six times the amount issued, according to a government official.

The sale’s orderbook was about $20 billion, the country’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told Bloomberg TV, a sign appetite for risky assets is still going strong.

Ghana joins a slew of emerging-market borrowers who took advantage of the dovish turn in some of the world’s most important central banks and sold bonds. Issuance so far this year climbed to $463 billion, a record start and about $50 billion more than its nearest contender, according to Bloomberg’s league tables.

• S&P Global Ratings rates Ghana B, five steps into junk territory and the same level as Argentina and Egypt
• African sovereign dollar bonds have returned about 9.5 percent in 2019, the most among emerging-market regions, according to JPMorgan indexes

Bond Tenure
The West African oil and cocoa producer sold the debt in a three-part deal with average maturities of seven, 12 and 31 years.

The shortest tranche was priced to yield 7.875 percent, after initial guidance of around 8 percent to 8.5 percent. The other tranches were priced at 8.125 percent and 8.95 percent, respectively. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Standard Bank Group Ltd. and Standard Chartered Plc arranged the deal.

The cedi strengthened for the first week in four last week as investors bet the sale would boost central bank reserves and help it protect the currency, which has weakened 9.6 percent this year.

Next Offering
Ghana, which was considering a 100-year bond, will consult with the market on the tenure of future sales, Ofori-Atta said.

“The market has told us that they’re comfortable with 31s. We have to work with the market and see if they’re interested in a longer-tenure bond,” he said. “It will be a decision that will make sense with the market. Maybe it’s a 50-year if that’s what the market calls for.”

Source: Bloomberg Business News