South Africa's Eurobond Sale Is Test of Confidence in Ramaphosa
South Africa Is Set to Issue First Eurobond Under Ramaphosa
(Bloomberg) -- Investor confidence in South Africa’s new administration will be tested as the country sells its first Eurobonds under President Cyril Ramaphosa at a time when emerging-market currencies and debt are under pressure amid rising U.S. rates and geopolitical tensions.
The country is marketing dollar securities maturing in 2030 and 2048, with initial price talk of about 6 percent and 6.375 percent, respectively, according to a person familiar with the transaction, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it. That would be a premium over existing yields, which rose Tuesday as developing-nation currencies plunged.
South Africa’s rand has gained 15 percent since mid-November, the most globally, as Ramaphosa, then deputy president and a former businessman and lawyer, maneuvered to succeed Jacob Zuma as president. Standard Chartered Plc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., among others, have recommended long positions in South African assets as the new administration moved to curb the budget deficit, cut debt and stimulate growth.
Risk Premium
That may not be enough to lower the country’s dollar-borrowing costs. The premium investors demand to hold South Africa’s dollar debt rather than U.S. Treasuries has climbed 25 basis points since the beginning of February, and widened eight points on Tuesday to 267, more than the two-point increase for the emerging-market average. Pricing on the new Eurobonds will depend on how investors weigh the improved fundamentals against an aversion for risk.
“They have a good window to issue now, on the back of policy decisions and year-to-date reforms,” said Richard Segal, a senior analyst at Manulife Asset Management Ltd. in London. “They will have to pay a meaningful concession, but they have to balance this against the risk of waiting. Were the government to wait, conditions might be even tougher.”
South Africa had budgeted to sell $3 billion of international bonds this fiscal year, according to Treasury documents. External debt accounts for less than 10 percent of the country’s overall borrowing and just 4.6 percent of gross domestic product, according to a prospectus for the Eurobonds filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
While the new government has put in place programs to stimulate the economy and stabilize debt, the success of those measures depends on Ramaphosa’s ability to implement them against political opposition from within and outside the ruling African National Congress, the prospectus states.
“There can be no assurance that such initiatives will achieve or maintain the necessary political support in the short or long term,” the prospectus states. “The political environment in South Africa has remained challenging with continued tensions between populist and reform-oriented politicians.”
South Africa last issued Eurobonds in September, when it sold $2.5 billion of 10- and 30-year notes. Yields on the former rose nine basis points to 5.48 percent by 11:21 a.m. in Johannesburg, while the longer-dated securities traded at 6.05 percent. South African dollar bonds have lost 2.4 percent this year, well below the emerging-market sovereign average loss of 4.3 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“It’ll be interesting to see how it clears given the global sentiment to emerging markets today,” said Michelle Wohlberg, a fixed-income trader at FirstRand Bank Ltd. “Given that South Africa has taken concrete steps to turn the country around -- cleaning up state-owned enterprises, providing political stability, trying to keep a lid on the fiscus -- I think we should see good demand from the offshore players.”
Deutsche Bank AG, Nedbank Group Ltd., JPMorgan Chase & Co., FirstRand’s Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank Group Ltd. are managing Tuesday’s deal.
African governments have been prolific issuers this year. Egypt, Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya have raised more than $20 billion in dollar and euro-denominated securities, already a full-year record for the continent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Lyubov Pronina in Brussels at lpronina@bloomberg.net, Paul Wallace in Lagos at pwallace25@bloomberg.net, Colleen Goko in Johannesburg at cgoko2@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Robert Brand
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