Morocco-based Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur (BMCE Bank) is planning to launch a debut senior unsecured Eurobond with a tenor of five years, Business Daily Online quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying.
The initial yield guidance is in the low-to-mid 6 percent area. Overall, the capital raising aims to beef up the bank’s liquidity and fund its international and Pan-African expansion strategy.
BMCE Bank initially announced plans to issue a 5-y $500m Eurobond in June, but the risk averse global environment and correction in emerging market debt assets at the time forced it to delay the sale.
“With the FED now less likely to start tapering its quantitative easing programme until it is justified by the economic data (as indicated by Janet Yellen in recent weeks), there is a window of opportunity for emerging market sovereigns and corporates to tap global capital markets and enjoy relatively benign external financing costs,” said Samir Gadio, an emerging markets strategist at Standard Bank, London in a note to clients.
BMCE’s yield guidance implies a spread over equivalent US treasuries of around 481 bps to 518 bps, assuming a yield range of 6.125 percent to 6.5 percent; in contrast, the Morocco 2022 Eurobond trades at 270 bps over US treasuries, notes Gadio.