Ethiopia, which raised $1 billion with a debut Eurobond in December, is “very likely” to return to the international capital market to help fund new infrastructure after a new cabinet is picked in October, a Finance Ministry official said.
Ethiopia’s first Eurobond was one of a string of African issues that had capitalized on foreign appetite for emerging market debt, although some of that enthusiasm has waned after turmoil in Chinese markets and on expectations that U.S. interest rates could rise.
“It is very likely that Ethiopia will turn to the international capital market again as it has big infrastructure projects in the pipeline,” Finance Ministry spokesman Haji Ibsa told Reuters, citing plans to expand the railway network.
“A decision is yet to be made but I would expect this to be finalized once the new cabinet is named,” he said, adding that the cabinet was expected to be approved by parliament in October.
Ethiopia has appointed Lazard as financial adviser to arrange a series of fixed-income investor meetings for a “non-deal roadshow”, in which nothing is offered for sale, in Britain and the United States, Thomson Reuters news service IFR reported.
The meetings are scheduled to take place in London on Sept. 22 and 23, New York on Sept. 24 and Boston on Sept. 25, IFR reported earlier on Monday.
Ethiopia, whose economy is expected to expand by more than 10 percent in 2015/16 according to the World Bank, is rated B1 by Moody’s ratings agency and B by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
[www.reuters.com]