[ 2017-11-06 ]

Energy bond unsuccessful after two tries
ESLA Plc failed to meet the target for the first
tranche of the bond after a second attempt.

The managers of the bond  were seeking to raise 6
billion cedis under two separate bonds.

But accrued a total of 4.69 billion cedis after it
closed the auction last Friday.

The 7-year bond received the targeted 2.4 billion
cedis while the 10-year bond accrued about 2.29
billion cedis, below the target of 3.6 billion
cedis.

For the 10-year bond, ESLA Plc realised a book
size of over 2.79 billion cedis.

The coupon rate were between 19 and 20 percent out
of which 2.29 billion cedis was accepted at a
final yield of 19.5%.

ESLA which has been given the mandate by
Government to issue the energy bond a week earlier
auctioned the bond but received low proceeds
forcing it to extend the auction by another week.

Proceeds of the bond are to be used to clear the
debt in the energy sector which as at December
2016 was 2.5 billion dollars.

Lead managers of the bond have however told Citi
Business News the process is an ongoing one and
that they will go back unto the market and if the
market conditions are right, they will issue it.

Meanwhile Citi Business News has learnt there will
be a revaluation of the whole process together
with an assessment of its performance on the stock
market which will determine the timing to go back
unto the market to raise the additional money.

Government in June this year announced Fidelity
Bank and Standard Chartered Bank as lead managers
of the bond.

In October, two road shows were conducted both
locally and internationally which managers
described as plausible.

Initially, the two bonds were extended for a day.

At the time, the managers attributed the decision
to requests by some large investors.

But the decision to extend the 10 year bond for a
week was not known.

Economist, Dr. Lord Mensah had predicted that
government will not be paying an interest rate of
less than 20 percent.

He argued that this is evident from rates paid on
previous sovereign bonds issued by the
government.

Reacting to possible reasons for the under
subscription, Investment Banker, Mahama Iddrisu
blamed the development on the political
composition of the board, as well as the impact of
low liquidity due to the operation of a Treasury
Single Account (TSA).

Source - citibsinessnews.com

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