Investors ‘fall over each other’ for Ghana bonds

Ghana on Tuesday, February 4 started receiving bids from investors all over the world for a three-tranche Eurobond sale that is expected to raise a total of $3 billion. As of 15.30 GMT Tuesday, investors from Asia and Europe had pledged to lend the country about $15 billion – five times more than the $3 billion the Ministry of Finance was asking for.

One source said the bonds could be six-year, 14-year and 40-year bonds and would mature in 2027, 2035 and 2061 respectively, reports Graphic Online’s Maxwell Akalaare Adombila.Another source said the bonds would likely be priced between 6.5 per cent and nine per cent.

“The long term one, the 2061 bond, is around 8.95 per cent,” the source, who was not authorised to speak on the status of the offers told Graphic Online.

Another source explained that the offers from the European and the Asian investors came at a time when markets in the United States of America (USA) had not opened.

It added that Ghana’s 2020 Eurobond sale team, which is led by the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, was expecting the bids to swell further when investors in the USA start participating in the offer.

That should help drive the price down further, the source said, noting that the transaction could be closed today.It, however, added that the team was exploring the possibility of dropping the seven-year bond for just the 14-year and the 40-year bonds.