Nigeria: Diaspora bond in the offing

Nigeria planned to issue a bond totalling between $100 million (R1.1 billion) and $300m aimed at the country’s diaspora by the end of the year, a senior debt official said yesterday. “We are still working on it, it will be a minimum $100m and up to $300m,” Abraham Nwankwo, the director-general of Nigeria’s debt management office, said, adding that the bond would launch “before the year ends”. Nigeria chose Stanbic IBTC Bank and Goldman Sachs as lead managers of the diaspora bond in April. Nwankwo said the bond would be sold only to offshore diaspora investors, with no onshore portion. Nigeria had no plans for a regular sovereign dollar bond, he added. – Reuters