EABL debt investors toast to Sh673 million in first interest payout
East African Breweries Plc (EABL) has wired an interest payment of Kes673.8 million to bondholders of its Kes11 billion medium-term corporate bond.
EABL said it will pay the interest on April 28, 2022, to the debt investors on record as of April 13, 2022, in accordance with the rules guiding the bond issue programme.
“The bond proceeds have been instrumental in supporting our capacity expansion strategy and contributing to our overall performance. As we celebrate 100 years since this company was founded, we thank the investor community for continued trust and support of our business,” said EABL Group Managing Director and CEO, Jane Karuku.
The brewer’s five-year, fixed-rate instrument was offered at an interest rate of 12.25 percent which is payable twice per year.
The bond, which was issued in October last year, saw investors place a total of Kes37.9 billion in the issuing round, representing an oversubscription of 275 percent.
Market analysts said the impressive applications were a signal of renewed investor confidence in a previously ruffled bond market in Kenya.
Read also: A look into what’s brewing at EABL for the next 100 years
Absa bank was the lead arranger of the EABL bond that was ranked among the top corporate deals transacted in Africa last year by the Bond and Loans Awards.
The Award recognizes the most innovative and ground-breaking deals from sovereign, corporate and financial institution issuers and borrowers. It named the EABL bond the Local Currency Corporate Bond Deal of the Year.
In the past 12 months, the bond market in Kenya has seen the issuance and listing of the Centum Investments Company Plc Kes4 billion medium-term note with a Kes2 billion greenshoe option.
Family Bank’s Kes8 billion multicurrency medium-term note recorded an oversubscription of 147 percent while real estate firm Acorn issued the country’s first certified green bond, raising Kes4.3 billion bond for the construction of environmentally-friendly student accommodation in Nairobi in 2021.
As of June 30, 2021, Kenya’s bond market turnover stood at Kes301 billion, compared to Kes228 billion registered in a comparable quarter in 2020.
