The Africa Finance Corporation says it has completed the first issue under its $3bn Global Medium Term Note Programme.

In a statement on Wednesday, the AFC said it had on April 22 priced the inaugural issue, a $750m 4.375 per cent five-year international bond.

According to it, the settlement date for the issue is April 29, 2015 with a maturity date of April 2020.

“The proceeds of the issuance will be used for general corporate and financing purposes and to repay all amounts outstanding under an existing bridge facility,” the statement read in part.

The AFC explained that the Eurobonds were placed following a seven-day roadshow across three continents and involving meeting with over 100 institutional investors.

It added, “The final order book was more than six times oversubscribed at over $4.7bn from a total of 315 investors, enabling a well-diversified distribution among international institutional investors across Asia, Europe and the US. The bonds will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.”

According to the statement, Citigroup Global Markets Limited acted as Global Coordinator, and together with Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International Plc, the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Standard Chartered Bank, acted as Joint Book runner for the US dollar-denominated Rule 144A/Reg. S issue.

Moody’s Investors Services has assigned a provisional A3 rating to the bonds.

The AFC is a multilateral development financial institution dedicated to infrastructure financing in Africa, primarily through debt and equity investments, project development and financial advisory services.

It started operations on November 1, 2007 and is focused on bridging Africa’s large infrastructure deficit by financing projects that have high developmental impact on the economies of African countries.

Its primary goal is to be the leading African institution for infrastructure financing and facilitation of international trade in Africa.

Punch