Standard Bank supports Banco Letshego by acting as a sole arranger in the domestic bond market
By Standard Bank
Letshego successfully raised MZN1.3 billion (about $20.3 million) in the primary bond market in Mozambique – making the bond placement one of the largest debt raising event in the local bond market. The bond was structured as Senior Unsecured notes and was oversubscribed by investors.
Banco Letshego was established in 2011 as a subsidiary of Letshego Holdings Limited (LHL), a pan-African financial services group that is headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Letshego is a licensed microfinance bank, with current, savings and fixed deposit accounts available for customers. In April 2016, Letshego Mozambique was licensed as a principal MasterCard issuer, which enables the microfinance bank to engage in card issuance, ATM services and a wide range of payment value-adding services offered by MasterCard.
The deal enabled Letshego to fund their asset book growth and improve their liquidity profile following recent banking sector regulatory updates.
The bank acted in its capacity as sole arranger and facilitated the end-to-end issuance process from conducting an investor roadshow in Maputo and engagements with legal counsel for the drafting of legal documents to placement and registration of the bonds on the Mozambican Stock Exchange (BvM). A collaboration with the Investment Banking Debt Solutions team helped to unlock a new bond mandate targeting at qualified institutional investors, financial institutions and non-resident investors.
This transaction is in line with the Bank’s strategy of contributing to the development of Africa’s debt local capital markets. The debut bond issuance contributes to further diversification in the corporate bond market issuer universe in the Mozambique,
As one of the largest banks in Mozambique, Standard Bank will continue to participate in transactions that drive Africa’s growth and provide a diverse product offering to clients.
Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets with a unique footprint across 20 African countries. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, it is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with share code SBK, and the Namibian Stock Exchange, share code SNB.