Ghana restructures domestic debt with nearly 85% participation rate

Chicago, Feb. 28 – Ghana successfully worked with its creditors to exchange its domestic debt with an 84.91% participation rate, according to a press release.

The domestic debt exchange program closed on Feb. 10.

The exchange settled on Feb. 21, an extension from the originally planned Feb. 14.

At the end of the offer, Ghana clarified that it would still be able to issue domestic public debt in other liability management transactions.

In the final announcement, GHS 97,749,624,691 of debt was available for exchange.

Bondholders tendered, and had accepted, GHS 82,994,510,128 of bonds.

The bonds being exchanged were issued by Ghana (58 series totaling GHS 91,532,996,715 with GHS 77,979,591,727 tendered), E.S.L.A. plc (six series with GHS 4,770,195,920 in the exchange offer and GHS 3,656,902,120 tendered) and Daakye Trust plc (three series totaling GHS 1,446,432,056 at the outset and GHS 1,358,016,281 tendered).

When the offer was updated at the end of December, the consideration was 12 new bonds with bonds maturing each year starting January 2027 and ending January 2038.

All of the new bonds were being issued by the republic.

From the original offer, the exchange bonds will have a lower average coupon and an extended average maturity from the current bonds. There will be no reduction in the principal amount.

All of the new bonds will be 0% coupon initially, stepping up to 5% in 2024 and 10% from 2025 onwards.

For the bonds not tendered, the government is taking steps to ensure the resumption of coupon and principal payments by March 13.

The exchange resulted in an upgrade from S&P Global Ratings, bringing Ghana up to ‘CCC+/C from selective default.

A full list of the domestic bonds can be found on the ministry website (https://mofep.gov.gh/).

Lazard Freres is the financial adviser for Ghana.

Morrow Sodali is acting as the information and coordination agent (https://projects.morrowsodali.com/ghanadde).

More information can also be had by contacting the CSD Contact Centre (+233302755200, dde@csd.com.gh, www.csd.com.gh/dde).

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