New giants are arising in African investments – the domestic pension funds. Several countries have funds worth billions of US dollars and in many they are growing at 25% a year or more. Handled well, they could transform local equity markets, exits for private equity and infrastructure investment.
The World Bank has cut its growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier in the year it forecast 5.2% growth overall for SSA economies in 2012, but yesterday (4 Oct) it cut this to 4.8%.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, on 20 Dec agreed to invest CAD1,250,000 in nickel and copper exploration through Sama Resources Inc, which will use the funds to advance the Samapleu project in eastern Côte d’Ivoire, near the border with Guinea.
The African Development Bank is playing its role in Africa with skill and is getting more backing from its principal shareholders because of its successes as an African institution. Moving back to Cote d’Ivoire is also on the agenda.
West Africa’s Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres BRVM regional stock exchange is to move trading operations back to Cote d’Ivoire next Monday (16 May), after moving to Mali to avoid a violent political crisis.
Rebels in Cote d’Ivoire made rapid advances towards Abidjan yesterday (30 March), where fighting could be fierce. Prices rallied yesterday on the €2.3 Eurobond and Bloomberg reported a 7% climb to 42.688 cents in the dollar nominal value, while cocoa prices fell $70.
Rebel advances in Cote d’Ivoire are boosting the price of the country’s €2.3 bn Eurobond, which are in default since 1 Feb, in London trading. According to Bloomberg today (30 Mar), the advance boosted the dollar-denominated bonds to their highest in at least 2 months as they climbed 4.2% to 39.875 % of face value last night.
West Africa’s regional stock market the Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres (BRVM) has started trading from a new base in Bamako, Mali, after leaving Cote d’Ivoire because of the political crisis. Trading restarted in the new office on 1 March, but volumes are much lower.
Cote d’Ivoire has formally reneged on $2.3 billion of Eurobonds, becoming the first nation to default since Jamaica in January 2010. The default comes after it was unable to pay $29 million of interest which had become due and after a 30-day grace period had expired. However, the market appears to have faith the crisis will eventually end.
This afternoon (5 Jan) the yield on the Cote d’Ivoire US dollar-denominated sovereign bonds climbed back up 60 basis points to 15.68%, according to Bloomberg, after reaching 16.19% on 4 January, as news came that there is no let-up in the political crisis.
Markets are nervous about the Cote d’Ivoire bond, worried that the country may not meet a payment deadline. Reuters reports today (27 December): “Ivory Coast’s $2.3 billion bond due in 2032 fell to a record low last week as investors worried the country would not meet a $30 million bond payment.”
Markets are reacting quickly to the news that Laurent Gbagbo was sworn in as president of Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday (4 Dec). The World Bank and African Development Bank on Sunday said in a joint statement: “The African Development Bank and the World Bank, longstanding multilateral development partners of Côte d’Ivoire, view with great concern and frustration the events unfolding in Côte d’Ivoire.”
Interest in African sovereign debt has been climbing again in recent months. Angola plans to issue a $1 billion – $2 billion benchmark bond., Kenya, Nigeria and Mauritius and many other countries have flourishing debt markets and international interest is good in high-yielding hard-currency bonds such as those issued by the Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire.
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