Ivory Coast sold 1.7 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of bonds Thursday in the biggest issuance in the common currency from an African government.
The West African nation’s amortizing deal was equally split between a tranche maturing in 2030 and paying 5.25 percent, and another due in 2048 with a yield of 6.625 percent.
Price guidance was around 5.375 percent for the shorter securities, which have an average life of 11 years, and 6.75 percent for the longer ones, which have a 29-year average maturity according to Bloomberg.
The amount is the largest amount of euro debt issued by an African sovereign since at least the start of this century, when Bloomberg began compiling the data.
The world’s largest cocoa producer followed Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal in tapping international markets before policy-tightening by the U.S.
Federal Reserve lifts borrowing costs. African sovereigns have now issued $12.8 billion of Eurobonds in 2018, already more than half the record $18 billion they managed last year and exceeding the total for the whole of 2016.
