1.125 Percent U.S.$ 1.0 Billion Benchmark Due 15 March 2017 (AfDB)

12 January 2012
Content from a Premium Partner
African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Terms of Transaction

  • Issuer: African Development Bank (AfDB)
  • Rating: Aaa (Moody's) / AAA (S&P) / AAA (Fitch)
  • Issue amount: U.S.$ 1.0 billion
  • Pricing Date: 11 January 2012
  • Settlement Date: 19 January 2012
  • Coupon: 1.125 % (semi-annual)
  • Maturity: 15 March 2017
  • Reoffer Price: 99.891%
  • Reoffer Yield: 1.147% (semi-annual)
  • Re-offer vs. Mid-Swaps: - 4.0 bps
  • Re-offer vs Benchmark: 0.875% December 2016 +33.25 bps
  • Lead Managers: Daiwa Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, J.P. Morgan

Transaction Highlights

African Development Bank (AfDB), rated Aaa (Stable) / AAA (Stable) / AAA (Stable (Moody's / Fitch / S&P), has successfully priced a U.S.$ 1 billion 5-year U.S.$ Global benchmark due on 15th March 2017 through Daiwa Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC and J.P. Morgan. The notes pay a coupon of 1.125% and is the first U.S.$ Global benchmark issue of AFDB for 2012. In 2011, AFDB had issued two 5-year U.S.$ Global benchmarks.

AFDB announced on Tuesday 10th January late New York afternoon that banks had been mandated for a new 5-year USD Global benchmark transaction to be launched in the near future, subject to market conditions.

The decision was taken early on Wednesday 11th January to proceed with a transaction to price intraday. The Books opened at 08:00 London time with guidance of mid-swaps -4 area. The orderbook grew quickly, reaching over U.S.$ 900 million ahead of the NY session.

Given AfDB's strong liquidity position, the deal size was capped at a maximum of U.S.$ 1 billion from the outset. Consequently, the decision was taken to close the orderbook at 4pm London time when it already stood at U.S.$ 1.2 billion with over 40 orders.

AfDB's new benchmark priced in line with the guidance of mid-swaps minus 4bps (equivalent to UST+ 33.25bps), an improvement of 2 basis points over the new issue reoffer spread of AFDB previous benchmark, the AFDB 1.25% Sep-16 issued in August 2011 at mid swap minus 2 basis points. "

Pierre Van Peteghem, Group Treasurer of the African Development Bank, said of this deal: " The transaction again highlights the strong support African Development Bank enjoys from the investor community for its development mandate in Africa. The strong participation both from central banks and asset managers is a testimony to the strong shareholder support and sound financial management that underpins the Bank's top notch credit ratings.

Distribution Statistics

A total of 43 investors participated in the transaction. Final distribution figures highlight AfDB's strong penetration across different regions. The orderbook was well diversified geographically with high quality orders from Central Banks and Official Institutions (68%) taking the bulk of the transaction.

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