PRESS RELEASE – 06 APRIL 2023 BAYPORT SAVINGS AND LOANS (GHANA) PLC ISSUE OF GHS 50 MILLION FLOATING RATE NOTES UNDER NEW GHS 500 MILLION DEBT ISSUANCE PROGRAMME
On 28th March 2023, Bayport Savings and Loans (Ghana) Plc (“Bayport Ghana” or the “Issuer”) successfully closed its GHS 50 million 2-year Senior Unsecured Floating Rate Notes issuance in Accra, Ghana, being the first series and tranche of Notes under its newly established GHS 500 million Medium Term Notes and Bond Programme (the “Programme”). The Notes were subsequently admitted to listing on the Ghana Fixed Income Market segment of the Ghana Stock Exchange, effective 4th March 2023.
The issuance follows a series of robust investor engagements (including a physical roadshow) during which Bayport provided comprehensive updates to its stakeholders in the investor community on the Issuer’s trading performance and business strategy that enabled Bayport Ghana to thrive yet again in the midst of an increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment. The investor engagements were very well received and set the scene for a successful and competitively priced bond issuance under ordinarily difficult and uncertain market circumstances.
The orderbook peaked at almost GHS 70 million, allowing the Issuer to close books at a 1.37x subscription rate, and price the transaction at a spread of 145bps to the 182-day Treasury bill benchmark rate, representing the most competitively priced issuance by Bayport Ghana in its 8-year history of accessing the domestic capital markets.
In spite of the gloomy market backdrop at the time of issuance, occasioned by the effects of the recently concluded Domestic Debt Exchange Program, participation was impressive with orders seen from a diverse pool of investors that had earlier expressed interest and also confirmed their continued confidence in the Bayport credit story given its two decades operating history in Ghana.
A significant portion of the bond proceeds will be used to support payroll lending efforts to low income public sector workers, majority of whom would have been unable to access traditional banking products and services in Ghana, especially under the current economic environment. Consequentially, this transaction goes a long way to boost and further consolidate the implementation of Bayport Ghana’s financial inclusion agenda.
