Nigeria will from next week embark on a road show to the United States with the book-runners for its US$500 million Eurobond, with the goal of completing the issue before the year runs out, the private Punch newspaper reported Wednesday.
”We expect (the road show) should terminate on December 16 or 17 and immediately after that we determine the pricing of the bond and the book-building starts. We intend to complete before the end of the year”, the newspaper quoted one of the banking sources close to the deal as saying.
Nigeria first announced plans to borrow on the International bond market two years ago, but later put the issue on hold, citing adverse market conditions.
The country, which is Africa‘s second biggest economy, plans to issue the 10-year bond to set a benchmark for Nigerian state governments and companies.
A banker close to the Eurobond issue said international investors had started registering their expressions of interest and that the relatively small size of the issue meant there should be no trouble raising the funds.
”One big portfolio manager could snap up the whole thing,” the source said, on the condition of anonymity.
Many international investors will close their order books for the year within a fortnight, and analysts had started to fear the issue could be delayed again.
Global markets have also been volatile due to uncertainty about the debt crisis in Europe
