The Land Bank has raised R837 million by tapping a three-year floating under its R10 billion Domestic Medium-Term note programme which was registered on the JSE Bond Exchange in October 2010.
The tap issuance was well received by the market and there was demand from investors as Land Bank managed to raise more than 1.67 times of the intended R500 million volume‚ resulting in the bank raising R837 million. The issuance attracted a weighted average spread of 135 basis points over three-month JIBAR which was well within the price guidance. The issue also attracted some new investors‚ the Bank said on Thursday.
Land Bank CFO Lebogang Serithi said the bank has re-established its presence in the Domestic DCM through its R10-billion Domestic Medium-Term note programme paper.
“The Bank has indeed achieved significant strides with its turnaround strategy hence investors are in support of the direction that the Land Bank is taking”‚ Serithi said.
Rand Merchant Bank‚ IDG Financial Services‚ Absa Capital and Vunani Capital acted as co-arrangers on both issuances.
Land Bank Chief Strategy Officer Greg van Wyk said at the strategic level the developments at the Bank were positive following the recent R1-billion funding agreement entered with the African Development Bank.
“With the ever-increasing demand for finance in agriculture‚ there has been a need to not only look for local sources of finance‚ but also explore external sources of funding.
“A diversified borrowing portfolio allows us to reasonably anticipate our borrowing spread to tighten and this augurs well for the Bank's financial year target to gain 35% market share of agricultural finance‚” he said. I-Net Bridge