Proceeds of €2B Eurobonds to reach CBE’s treasury Monday

CAIRO – 16 April 2018: The settlement of Egypt's first €2 billion euro-denominated international bond issue will take place on Monday April 16, to enter the treasury of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on the same day.

The proceeds of the bonds will be directed to the Central Bank to support foreign reserves, while the cash equivalent in the Egyptian pound will finance the activities of the state budget.

The Ministry of Finance said earlier that Egypt has raised €2.46 billion in a dual-tranche euro-denominated bond sale that closed last Monday, referring that it’s the first issuance in the euro currency since it began tapping international markets.

The bonds were issued with maturities of eight and 12 years at 4.75 percent and 5.625 percent.

Monday's issuance saw high interest from investors, attracting an overall of €7.5 billion in orders from 350 investors and 35 different countries.

The issuance was the second in 2018 as in February Egypt sold $4 billion in dollar-denominated bonds on three tranches; three, five and 30 years.

Egypt’s foreign reserves reached $42.611 billion at the end of March, a rise of nearly $87 million, compared to $42.524 billion at the end of February, according to the CBE.

The state issued $7 billion in Eurobonds' sales in January and May 2017 on the global bond market, both of which were oversubscribed, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Deputy Finance Minister for Capital Market Operations Khaled Abdel Rahman told Reuters in the beginning April that Egypt will not need to issue any more Eurobonds until the end of 2018 at least.

It plans to issue $6-7 billion in Eurobonds in the new fiscal year 2018/19, Finance Minister Amr el-Garhy said Wednesday.