Afreximbank’s 500 million-dollar bond enjoys high subscription

Cairo, 31 May 2013 – The African Export-import Bank (Afreximbank) this week announced the issuance of a 500 million-dollar bond as part of an equity raising effort to further strengthen its banking operations going forward.

The bond, listed on the Irish Stock Market, has a five-year maturity date of 4 June 2018 and was issued at a coupon rate of 3.875 per cent per annum. The issuance enjoyed strong investor support and generated significant orders that saw the book grow in excess of $1.2 billion on the opening day.

“We are very excited at the success of this issuance,” said Jean-Louis Ekra, President of Afreximbank. “The extremely high interest in our bond, which resulted in the book reaching well beyond 1.2 billion dollars, reflects the continuing confidence which the international investment community has in Afreximbank. The proceeds of this exercise will enable the Bank to meet its goal of delivering even effective trade financing services to our customers as we increase the volume of our business.”

Afreximbank is rated Baa2 by Moody’s and BBB- by both the S&P and the Fitch rating agencies. The issuance is the third by Afreximbank in the international debt capital market, where it issued its first bond for 300 million dollars in 2009 and a second for 500 million dollars in 2011.

HSBC, Commerzbank, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities and Standard Bank are joint bookrunners and joint lead managers for this week’s issuance.

In December 2012, Afreximbank’s shareholders approved a change in the Bank’s Charter to increase its authorized capital from 750 million dollars to five billion dollars in a move aimed at giving it a more robust foundation to execute its mandate of financing and promoting African trade.