Angola sets pricing; Ghana eyes notes; Nitrogenmuvek on tap as FOMC stands pat on rates

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, May 2 – A pair of Africa sovereigns was in the emerging markets debt market early Wednesday, and the rest of the space was mostly quiet ahead of a policy update from the U.S. Federal Reserve released later in the day.

The U.S. central bank left its target range for the federal funds rate unchanged at 1½% to 1¾%, and said inflation is running close to its 2% target on the back of a labor market that has continued to strengthen and economic activity that is rising at a moderate rate.

Market players had not been expecting a rate increase this time around, but they do anticipate one at the Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting.

Treasuries slipped on Wednesday after a bump higher on Tuesday, leaving the rate on the benchmark 10-year note at 2.97%.

The Republic of Angola was getting ready to price $3 billion of new notes at terms deemed to be cheap early Wednesday. The yield on its $1.75 billion tranche of 10-year notes was fixed at 8¼%, which was tightened from initial price talk in the 8½% area. And the yield on the $1.25 billion tranche of 30-year notes was fixed to yield 9 3/8%, which was tightened from initial price talk in the 9 5/8% area.

The order books were seen in excess of $9 billion, with a skew to the 10-year issue.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Ghana announced that it is holding a series of fixed-income investor meetings starting on Thursday for a planned offering of dollar-denominated 10- and 30-year notes. Those meetings wrap up next Tuesday. The sovereign is also tendering for up to $1.5 billion of its $750 million of 9¼% amortizing notes due 2022 and its $1 billion of 7 7/8% notes due 2023.

Elsewhere, Veszprem, Hungary-based ammonia and fertilizer producer Nitrogenmuvek Zrt. was heard to be readying to price on Thursday a €200 million offering of seven-year notes that has been on the calendar.

The seven non-call three notes were being sold by BNP Paribas, JPMorgan and Raiffeisen Bank International AG as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.

Proceeds are earmarked to refinance its outstanding dollar-denominated eurobonds due 2020 and for general corporate purposes.

No new deals were heard among Middle Eastern issuers, although a flurry of new paper is expected to come to market before the month-long Ramadan holiday begins on May 15.

In Latin America, market players held off on pushing the button on a couple of deals that finished up road show meetings on Tuesday, as news that Brazil’s Andrade Gutierrez SA failure to pay its 4 1/8% bond due April 30 continued to reverberate.

The engineering and construction company is based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Paraguay-based lender Banco Regional SA and Buenos Aires-based oil and gas company Petroquimica Comodoro Rivadavia SA were the potential issuers that did not show by Prospect News’ deadline Wednesday. Banco Regional was planning up to $300 million of up to seven-year notes and PCR was planning dollar, intermediate-term notes.

Meanwhile, possible Thursday business in Latin America also includes Telecom Argentina SA’s dollar-denominated notes, Peru’s Camposol SA dollar notes and Colombia’s Transportadora de Gas Internacional SA’s planned 10-year dollar notes.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.