Barclays Africa Group Limited, to be renamed Absa Group Limited, has successfully raised US$400 million in capital for the business in what was the Group’s first dollar-denominated bond sale in the international market in more than ten years.
Barclays Africa Group said the capital will fund its corporate activities and to ensure that its maintains the healthy levels of capital required by regulators.
More than 140 investors across Asia, Europe, UK and the offshore US placed orders for Barclays Africa Group’s bonds. The total investor demand of roughly US$1.5 billion for the bonds far exceeded the volume Barclays Africa Group wished to raise, signaling strong investor confidence.
It is worth noting that the bonds issued were only the second-ever Basel III compliant dollar-denominated Tier 2 notes issued out of South Africa. The reference to ‘Basel III’ means that the bonds meet some of the most stringent regulatory capital requirements in the world. ‘Tier 2’ refers to the type of capital being raised – in this case, it is designated as supplementary capital.
