Egypt raises €2B in eurobond issuance

CAIRO – 10 April 2018: Egypt’s Ministry of Finance raised up to €2B in dual-tranche eurobond on Monday recording the country’s first public bond denominated in euro. The debt sale received purchase orders amounting to €7.5B, split evenly across the proposed eight-year and 12-year tranches, according to the ministry’s statement.

A delegation from the finance ministry, headed by the minister Amr al-Garhy, held a three-day promotional tour on April 3-6 that included the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France. The delegation which also included Ahmed Kouchouk, vice minister of finance for financial policies and institutional development, and Khalid Abdel Rahman, assistant minister of finance for capital markets operations. The delegation conducted intensive meetings and met with a number of major European investors to present the most important aspects of Egypt’s recent successful economic and structural reforms and the improved economic performance and growth rates in general.

The delegation held eight one-to-one meetings and other eight group meetings with 70 businessmen of Europe's largest fixed income security investors. In addition, the Egyptian tour included making several conference calls with a group of European investors and 10 major American investors specialized in investment in financial markets.

According to the statement, many investors expressed their appreciation and admiration of the developments and improvement experienced in the Egyptian economy in the last period.

Al-Garhy pointed out that more than 350 investors from 35 countries presented purchase demands, which reflects the growing confidence among international financial institutions in the Egyptian economy, especially after the recent comprehensive package of structural economic reforms.

Regarding the proceeds of the bonds, the minister noted that the Eurobonds proceeds will be directed to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to support foreign reserves, while the equivalent value in Egyptian pound will be directed to finance the general budget.

The banks arranging the debt offering included BNP Paribas, AlexBank – a member of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group – Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.