Debt issuance in sub-Saharan Africa fell to its lowest
annual total in three years in 2015, data from Thomson Reuters showed on
Monday, as sinking currencies and faltering economies kept borrowers
out of the market.
Taking advantage of historically low yields and strong
investor appetite, Africans have borrowed heavily in international
markets in recent years. Debt sales reached record highs in 2014.
But the prospect of rising interest rates in the United
States, slowing economies at home and a gloomy outlook for commodity
prices are making African states and companies more reluctant to tap
capital markets.
Sub-Saharan Africa raised $15.5 billion through debt in 2015, a 22
percent decline and the lowest annual total since 2012, Thomson Reuters'
quarterly investment banking analysis showed.
South Africa, the continent's most advanced economy, was the biggest
issuing country, accounting for more than a third of the activity,
followed by the Ivory Coast with 28 percent.
The value of merger and acquisitions targeting sub-Saharan African
companies rose nearly four-fold to a record $41.1 billion, the data also
showed.
African companies are attracting increasing investor attention as the
spending power of the rising middle class increases and the continent's
natural resources sector grows.
Investment banking fees for sub-Saharan African increased 24 percent
to $476 million. Rand Merchant Bank, a unit of FirstRand, earned more
than 10 percent of the fee pool.
By: Reuters.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, Flagship Records.
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