AfDB raises $2.5 billion to fund development programmes

14 Mar 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

With the latest bond offering, the AfDB said it has now completed 57 percent of its 2017 funding programme.

Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank

The African Development Bank announced today that it raised $2.5 billion via a global benchmark bond offering as part of its efforts to raise funds to execute development initiatives on the continent.

The Abidjan-based multilateral lender said the three-year bond is its first dollar-denominated global benchmark bond offering this year, following a €1 billion seven-year benchmark transaction in January. The bond – which was issued on March 8th – was priced at a yield of 1.875 percent and is due on March 16th, 2020.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this transaction: the largest benchmark ever launched by our institution, $2.5 billion, and its largest order book, greater than $3.8 billion, a testimony of investors’ interest in the AfDB name and credit,” said Hassatou N’Sele, AfDB’s Director, Treasury Department.

The AfDB said its bond issuance took advantage of supportive market conditions and the clear execution window ahead of the busy global political and economic calendar in March created by the onset of Brexit negotiations and a closely-watched election in the Netherlands.

With the latest bond offering, the AfDB said it has now completed 57 percent of its 2017 funding programme.

“The size of the transaction and the increased borrowing programme ($3.8 billion in 2012 versus $9.4 billion in 2017) reflect the growing operations of the bank on the African continent,” the bank said.

Founded in 1964, the AfDB is the premier development finance institution in Africa with a mandate to spur sustainable economic development and social progress on the continent. The bank has an authorized capital of around $100 billion and its membership consists of 80 countries: 54 African countries and 26 non-African countries.


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