Less than a week after Access Bank announced that it successfully issued a $500 million Senior Unsecured Eurobond from the international debt capital market, the lender on Friday said it is holding a global investor call today (27th of September 2021) ahead of another issuance.
In a notice to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), the biggest lender in Africa’s most populous country said it will be issuing the additional 5-Year USD denominated Tier 1 Eurobond in furtherance of its Global Medium-Term Note Issuance Programme.
To ensure the smooth sailing of the transaction, the tier-1 bank said it has mandated by Citi, J.P. Morgan, Renaissance Capital and Mashreqbank as Joint Bookrunners of the deal while Chapel Hill Denham and Coronation Merchant Bank will in collaboration with Bookrunners as financial advisers of the deal.
Recall that Access Bank’s recent Eurobond issuance was oversubscribed by over three times. Investors were willing to subscribe to the $500 million Access Bank sought to raise with $1.6 billion.
The investors’ confidence in Access Bank’s ability to pay at maturity earned the bank a record as the first to attract the largest order book ever for a Nigerian bank Eurobond transaction.
“The success of our $500 million senior unsecured Eurobond is yet another stride towards the realisation of that vision and underscores our investors’ confidence in the Access Bank story,” the Group Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, said.
The senior Eurobond 5-year unsecured note (144A/RegS), which was sold under the bank’s $1.5 billion global medium-term note programme, was issued with a yield and coupon of 6.125 (approximately 6.13) per cent with interest payable semi-annually in arrears.
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Listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, the 5-year unsecured bond will mature in September 2026.
According to Access Bank’s disclosure, “The transaction saw significant demand from top-quality investors globally including the United States, Europe (including the United Kingdom), Middle East, Asia and Africa, anchored by a number of large tickers.”
The net proceeds of the Eurobond, according to the lender, will provide medium-term funding and help to enhance the capacity of the bank to support its general banking purposes.
Recall that Access Bank recently launched an African expansion strategy to accomplish its vision to be the World’s Most Respected African Bank.
The tier-one lender recorded its highest half-year profit in nine years in the second quarter of 2021 on the back of increased interest income fueled by the growth in corporate and retail value chains.
Its profit grew by 42.45 percent to N86.94 billion in the financial period ended June 2021 from N61.03 billion in the comparable period of 2020.
