Egypt tightens price guidance for debut dollar sukuk to 11.375%

Egypt tightened price guidance for its debut sale of US dollar-denominated Islamic bonds known as sukuk to 11.375 per cent, a document reviewed by Reuters showed on Tuesday.

The three-year sukuk are expected to raise $1.5 billion, the document said, and demand is believed to have topped $4.5 billion. The initial price guidance was around 11.625 per cent.

Egypt’s vulnerable finances fell into crisis after the war in Ukraine triggered heavy foreign investment outflows from Egyptian financial markets. The cash-strapped country sought a four-year, $3 billion rescue plan with the International Monetary Fund that was finalised in December.

The sukuk, which will be listed on the London Stock Exchange, will be issued through The Egyptian Financial Company for Sovereign Taskeek, with the finance ministry as obligor.

Joint lead managers and bookrunners on the sukuk are Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Citi, Credit Agricole, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank and HSBC, a document on the deal showed on Friday.

A successful sukuk sale would help Egypt repay $1.25 billion in five-year Eurobonds, which carried a fixed interest rate of 5.577 per cent and mature on February 21.

But analysts said it would be hard for Egypt to roll them over at anything close to this after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 4.5 percentage points in rate hikes over the last year and following Moody’s downgrade of Egypt’s sovereign rating by one notch on February 7. — Reuters

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