Citi’s strength across the capital markets, allied to an ability to put its balance sheet to good use with key clients, always put it in contention for the award for Africa’s best bank for financing.
The US lender ranked number one in Africa ex-Egypt debt capital markets in the year to the end of March 2022, according to Dealogic, completing 22 deals worth a total of $6.85 billion for an 18.1% share of the market – leaving its rivals in its wake. Its deal book over that period is seriously comprehensive and includes transactions big and small, innovative and run-of-the-mill.
A good place to start is the Republic of Benin’s $500 million sustainable development goals (SDG)-linked bond in July 2021. A landmark transaction in the emerging markets, it was the first hard-currency SDG offering ever completed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It also marked the first environmental, social and governance-themed international sovereign issue to emerge from sub-Saharan Africa. Citi was joint sustainability structuring adviser and joint bookrunner on the deal.
The US bank was sole global coordinator on the sale of 58 million shares in Airtel Africa by Warburg Pincus and Morningstar Investment, worth a total of £81 million. Citi acted as sole global coordinator and bookrunner on the February 2022 offering, which represented around 1.5% of the firm’s ordinary share capital. Books were covered in less than 30 minutes in a sale that was two times oversubscribed.
In another standout deal, Citi acted as joint global coordinator on a $50 million convertible bond by Helios Towers in June 2021. Books were covered within an hour of the launch, with the final order book on the convertible bond tap benefiting from strong momentum and winding up 6.5 times over-subscribed.
Access Bank’s $500 million subordinated additional tier-1 offering also caught the eye. It marked the second successful transaction by the Lagos-based lender in 2021 and the first subordinated AT-1 Eurobond to be completed in Nigeria. Citi was joint bookrunner, trustee and paying agent on the country’s inaugural Basel III-compliant transaction.
“Be it ambitious sovereign borrowing programmes or bank and corporate debt raising, Citi has executed across both investment grade as well as non-investment grade markets, demonstrating the breadth and experience of our team,” says Samad Sirohey, head of debt financing, central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The bank was also busy in the loans space. It arranged a $1 billion debt package for Mauritius Commercial Bank in September 2021. The deal was upsized from $600 million, with Citi acting as coordinator, bookrunner and mandated lead arranger. It was also global coordinator on a N65 billion ($157 million) debt package for African Natural Resources & Mines – working closely with its owner AIG to structure the facility and develop the company’s credit story.
Navigating volatile markets since the summer period has been challenging for borrowers, but Citi found the windows – however brief – of execution
Samad Sirohey
Finally, Citi acted as senior mandated lead arranger and documentation agent on London-listed Endeavour Mining’s $500 million syndicated revolving credit facility. Finalized in September 2021, it followed Endeavour’s $2 billion acquisition of Teranga, in a deal that created a global top-10 gold producer.
“With rates at an inflection point with more downside than upside, we focused on advising clients to extend their maturities and we were able to guide clients to locking in long-term capital at competitive terms during the 2021 to 2022 period,” adds Sirohey. “Navigating volatile markets since the summer period has been challenging for borrowers, but Citi found the windows – however brief – of execution for our clients during this period.”
