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Egypt Issues $2 Billion With First Dollar Bond in Two Years
Mirette Magdy
1 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Egypt issued $2 billion with its first dollar-bond deal in almost two years on Tuesday, as the North African nation emerges from its worst economic crisis in decades.

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The bonds were split between $1.25 billion of five-year notes yielding 8.625% and $750 million of eight-year debt yielding 9.45%. Investors had placed almost $10 billion of orders by the time the final terms were set, according to a person familiar with the matter.

While emerging-market bond sales started briskly in January — with Saudi Arabia and Mexico among those coming to the market — activity stalled in the past two weeks. Egypt’s deal potentially signals an uptick in issuance.

The Middle East’s most populous country delivered its biggest-ever interest-rate hike and allowed its currency to weaken about 40% against the dollar in March last year, seeking to resolve a chronic foreign-currency shortage and unlock international funding after months of uncertainty. The move helped unlock funding pledges from the United Arab Emirates, International Monetary Fund and others, a global bailout totaling some $57 billion.

Egypt last sold dollar bonds in 2023, raising $1.5 billion from its first Islamic Sukuk issuance. The last time the country issued conventional bonds was in September 2021, when it sold $3 billion.

The government hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Standard Chartered Plc and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. to manage the latest transaction.

Goldman said earlier this month it expects Egypt to sell $3 billion to $4 billion of debt in the first half of this year.

--With assistance from Srinivasan Sivabalan.

(Updates with context on emerging markets from third paragraph.)

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