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StanChart Among Banks Readying $800 Million Loan for Ivory Coast

By Baudelaire Mieu and Esteban Duarte
Vendors sell fresh food produce in the Adjame market in the Plateau district of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Monday, May 16, 2022. Surging international food prices will hit Africa’s economies the hardest and may trigger social unrest if governments fail to cushion the blow, according to a report by Oxford Economics Africa. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coast is turning to banks including Standard Chartered Plc for a loan of about $800 million to refinance upcoming maturities, according to people familiar with the matter.

Nedbank Group Ltd. and Rand Merchant Bank are also among the lenders taking part in the financing, said the people who asked not be identified because the information is not yet public. Separately, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is arranging a €400 million ($421 million) loan as part of a debt-for-development swap deal, the people said. Both transactions are likely to be completed in the coming days, they said.

Ivory Coast is improving terms of its existing debt after it saw a credit rating upgrade from S&P Global Ratings in October, when the company boosted the West African nation to BB from BB-, a notch closer to investment grade. S&P cited the beneficial impact of higher prices for cocoa and rising exports on the economy.

Debt swaps for environmental or social goals are gaining in popularity among emerging-market governments and with global banks. The arrangements, which typically take place when a country faces high interest rates on its debt, involve guarantees from public finance institutions that help keep a lid on borrowing costs.

Ivory Coast is completing a debt-for-development swap transaction in which it will repay almost €400 million of its most expensive commercial debt with a new loan, the World Bank said in a Dec. 5 statement. The country will fund the buyback with the 15-year loan being arranged and structured by MUFG, according to people familiar with the matter. The loan is expected to have significantly better terms than the debt that will be repaid given its partial guarantee from the World Bank.

Representatives for Ivory Coast, Standard Chartered, MUFG, Nedbank and Rothschild & Co., which has been advising Ivory Coast, declined to comment. Representatives for Rand Merchant Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

 

--With assistance from Jorgelina do Rosario and Adelaide Changole.

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