Egypt’s balance of international bonds in European currency rises to €4bn

Hossam Mounir
3 Min Read

Egypt’s balance of bonds launched in international markets in the European currency has increased to €4bn after the success of the ministry of finance to launch two new tranches worth €12bn on Thursday.

The ministry of finance said that there was a significant and growing demand on these bonds, nearing €9bn, which is four times over the value of the offering.

The bonds were issued on two tranches. The first was of a six-year term worth €750m, due on 11 April 2025, the second was of 12-year term worth €1.25bn, due on 11 April 2031.

The ministry pointed out that the demand on bonds resulted in reducing the price of the initial yield announced by the ministry at the start of the day with 50 basis points. This is a major drop. The two new bonds were issued with final yield prices of 4.750% for the six-year bonds, and 6.375% for the 12-year bonds.

Furthermore, the ministry added that the new bonds witnessed strong participation by foreign investors and many international markets, as their numbers jumped from 450 investors, which confirms the growing confidence of the finance and business circles in the Egyptian economy.

European investors came first with a 55.2% participation, followed by North America by 33.2%, then Asia by 9.6%, according to a statement by the ministry.

The statement explained that four European banks have managed the launching operations in favour of the ministry of finance. These banks are BNP Paribas, Natixis, Standard Chartered Bank, and Alexandria Bank Intesa Sanpaolo. the ministry of finance was represented by the Dechert bureau, as an international legal advisor, in addition to Al-Tamimi Bureau, as a local advisor, in order to complete all the legal measures related to the issuance.

The ministry launched bonds worth €2bn launched on 16 April 2018 over two tranches. The first is worth €1bn, with a 4.75% yield due on 16 April 2026. The second is of the same value with a yield of 5.625% due on 16 April 2030.

Noteworthy, there are other US dollar bonds whose balance is estimated at $23.21bn.

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