ACCESS BANK RAISES ADDITIONAL $500M EUROBOND AT 9.125%, SAYS RENCAP

ACCESS BANK RAISES ADDITIONAL $500M EUROBOND AT 9.125%, SAYS RENCAP

Renaissance Capital (Rencap), a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, in the capacity of Joint Lead Manager and Bookrunners, successfully completed Access Bank plc.’s US$500 million Additional Tier 1 Eurobond offering.

This Basel III-based USD-denominated Perpetual NC5.25 Regulation S/144A Additional Tier 1 bond was priced at 9.125%, Rencap said in a statement on Monday.

It added that the rate implies an optimal premium to Access Bank’s earlier launched senior bond issue and is in line with comparable AT1 issues from the broader Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region.

Report indicated that the bond issue was placed as part of a broad Access Bank’s US$1.5 billion funding programme.

According to Rencap, the Eurobond offering enjoyed strong investor demand, highlighting the positive perception of the Bank’s credit story and the management’s clear strategy.

It said regulatory approvals allowed Access Bank to comfortably tap markets for a benchmark USD500 million AT1 transaction – the first from a Nigerian bank.

Samuel Sule, Acting CEO, Nigeria, Renaissance Capital, said: “The success of this transaction highlights Access Bank’s solid credit story and sets a strong benchmark for Additional Tier 1 issue from Nigerian banks.

The transaction follows the release of new regulatory capital guidelines from the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Renaissance Capital is pleased to have been a part of this concerted effort to deepen the Nigerian capital markets and support economic growth.”

Access Bank Plc is a leading full-service Nigerian commercial bank with operations in 11 African countries, rated B2 (negative) and B (stable) by Moody’s and Fitch, respectively.

Access Bank ranks number one in Nigeria by assets, deposits, customers, revenue and returns on equity as of the first half of 2021.