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| Republic of Rwanda's $400 million Eurobond | |
| Lead managers | BNP Paribas, Citi |
| return to the Deals of the Year 2013 index | |
In 2010, with questions surrounding how Rwanda could fund costly, large-scale projects including a convention centre and national carrier RwandAir, policymakers were forced to look for innovative ways to raise cash.
As members of the ministry of finance sought advice from international commercial banks, BNP Paribas came up with a surprising suggestion: to issue a Eurobond.
"We had seen growth in demand for prime African sovereigns in the two years preceding the issue," says Nick Darrant, head of Ceemea syndicate at BNP Paribas based in London, who worked on the deal. "So we went to the government there and suggested this could be a real possibility. This would be a great chance to educate international investors on Rwanda’s success story." Interest in a possible Eurobond issue slowly eased its way into popular debate at the ministry.
"The pressure was mounting and we needed to get the funding from somewhere. The minister of finance at the time, John Rwangombwa, told us to go out and find out what a Eurobond would entail," says Kampeta Sayinzoga, permanent secretary at Rwanda’s ministry of finance.