Nigeria Hires Citi, StanChart, Stanbic for $2.5 Billion Eurobond

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria hired Citigroup Inc., Standard Chartered Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc to help it sell $2.5 billion of Eurobonds, possibly in the first quarter.

“The minister confirmed this at the Federal Executive Council briefing on Wednesday,” Oluyinka Akintunde, media adviser for Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, said by text message on Thursday.

The government rehired the group of lenders who managed its Eurobond sales late last year.

Proceeds from the issuance will be used to refinance maturing local-currency bonds as part of a strategy to help reduce burden of paying double-digit yields in the domestic market. This issuance would complete a dollar-debt program that started with selling $3 billion of Eurobonds in November, some of which was used to refinance naira bonds, and the rest to fund the national budget.

Debt Management Office Director-General Patience Oniha said last month the issuance is “subject to market conditions” and the whole $2.5 billion could be raised in one go or in tranches.

President Muhammadu Buhari is looking to free up as much money as possible to fund an 8.6 trillion-naira ($24 billion) spending plan this year and help the recovery of an economy that contracted in 2016 for the first time in 25 years. The International Monetary Fund forecast Nigeria’s economy will expand by 2.1 percent this year from an estimated 0.8 percent in 2017.

Source: Bloomberg Business News