South Africa’s $3.5bn Eurobond sale sparks surging investor demand

Key topics:SA raises $3.5bn as eurobond demand reaches nearly $13BInvestor appetite grows amid reforms and stronger economic outlookRand hits 3-year high; bond yields drop to multi-year lows.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Ntando Thukwana.South Africa raised $3.5 billion in a sale of dollar bonds that attracted demand for almost four times that amount, the latest sign of investors flocking to the nation’s financial assets.Africa’s most industrialised economy priced $1.75 billion each of 12- and 30-year bonds at yields of 6.25% and 7.375% respectively on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorised to speak publicly. That compares with yields of 7.1% and 7.95% on similar-maturity notes issued in November 2024.Bids for the securities totalled more than $13 billion, the person said.South Africa joins Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, Kenya and Angola in tapping foreign-currency markets this year as resilient global growth and expectations of further US interest-rate cuts fuel investor appetite for riskier assets.The average spread for African sovereign debt over US Treasuries has narrowed by 314 basis points since April to about 342 basis points, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes..South African assets have rallied in recent months as investors bet on an improving economic outlook.The country is benefiting from government reforms aimed at removing bottlenecks to growth, its commitment to fiscal discipline, the adoption of a lower 3% inflation target and stronger-than-expected revenue collection — factors that led S&P Global Ratings to upgrade the country last month. Moody’s Ratings is scheduled to provide an update on its assessment later on Friday.The rand is trading at its strongest level in almost three years; it strengthened 0.2% to 16.9614 per dollar by 8:12 a.m. in Johannesburg on Friday. The nation’s 10-year government bond yield is at the lowest in more than eight years..© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

South Africa’s $3.5bn Eurobond sale sparks surging investor demand

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