Standard Bank Launches Eurobond for PTA Bank

Standard Bank, the African banking group, has successfully launched a US$300m Eurobond for PTA Bank, the Nairobi-based multilateral financial institution. The transaction is the first Eurobond from an East African issuer, either sovereign or corporate. The transaction is also the only corporate Eurobond from sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 and only one since 2007.

Standard Bank acted as joint book-runner together with HSBC on this debut Eurobond. The new five-year Reg S bond was priced to yield 7.125%. This transaction is the inaugural issue under PTA Bank’s new US$1bn Euro Medium-term Note (EMTN) programme and the proceeds will be used to support new trade and project finance lending in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Florian Hartig, global head of debt capital markets at Standard Bank, said: “This is a landmark transaction for sub-Saharan Africa which will have important benefits throughout the region for future sovereign and corporate issuers. The transaction also demonstrates the strength of Standard Bank’s Eurobond distribution platform for emerging market issuers together with our expertise in African domestic markets.”

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