The bond, due June 2024, will be settled in
dollars at a fixed coupon of 10.5%. It was issued under the African Development
Bank Group’s ‘Feed Africa’ (https://bit.ly/3HZgao5) strategic High 5 and marks
the Bank’s first offshore UGX bond issuance in 2022. Standard Chartered Bank
arranged the transaction under the Bank’s Global Debt Issuance Facility.
Capitulum Asset Management was the investor.
The Bank will direct funds equal to the net
proceeds of the issue to lending projects that advance the ‘Feed Africa’
strategic priority, in accordance with its lending standards.
Keith
Werner, African Development Bank Division Manager for Capital Markets and
Financial Operations, said: “The African Development Bank is very pleased to
collaborate with Standard Chartered Bank and Capitulum Asset Management to
launch this inaugural African frontier currency ESG transaction, contributing
to our High-5 development priorities while extending our investor reach in
Europe.”
Under its Feed Africa strategy, the Bank is
working to (i) contribute to reduce poverty; (ii) end hunger and malnutrition;
(iii) make Africa a net food exporter; and (iv) move Africa to the top of
export-orientated value chains where it has a comparative advantage. Feed
Africa’s overall goal is to make Africa a net food exporter by 2025.
Theodor Kirschner, Fund Manager at Capitulum
Asset Management said: “Our participation in the African Development Bank’s
Ugandan shilling bond funding the ‘Feed Africa’ program helps us to reach our
goal to invest with a positive impact while providing an adequate yield in a
frontier currency.”
Dain Sherborne, head of EM SSA Bond Trading
and Annemarie Ganatra, head of MTNs at Standard Chartered Bank, said: “We are
delighted that our core strengths in African markets have enabled us to arrange
this ‘Feed Africa’ theme bond issuance for AfDB. We look forward to continuing
to strengthen our partnership with multilateral development banks to help them
achieve their common goals.”