Kenya’s leading mobile operator Safaricom will on October 7 start the sale of the first tranche of its Sh2 billion bond after securing all regulatory approval, the firm said on Tuesday. Worth up to Sh5 billion and with a five-year tenor, the tranche will have both floating and fixed rates, Safaricom said in a newspaper advertisement. The offer, whose pricing will be unveiled separately, closes on October 29. Barclays Bank Kenya in association with South Africa’s Absa Bank, Kenyan CFC Stanbic and CFC Stanbic Financial Services are arranging the issue. Safaricom joins a list of growing Kenyan firms that are tapping the debt market to raise capital. The company is the region’s biggest by market capitalisation and frequently the most traded stock on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. A Sh15 billion issue by Kenya’s main electricity generator KenGen is said to have been oversubscribed. Ends
