Press Releases

MTN Group wins 2006 Spire Award for Best Debt Issue

The MTN Group has been awarded the Bond Exchange of South Africa’s (BESA) Spire Award for the Best Debt Issue of 2006 for its ZAR5 billion four-year bond (MTN01) and received 5th place for its ZAR1.3 billion eight-year bond (MTN02) in the same category.

The bond, MTN’s maiden foray into the South African debt capital market, was the biggest capital-raising in a single day by a corporate in this market's history and formed part of MTN’s fund raising for the purchase price of Dubai listed Investcom LLC, which was settled in July 2006.

The Spire Awards, based on voting from investors and market participants, recognise individuals and teams who use talent, intelligence and commitment to contribute to the bond market in South Africa. The Best Debt Issue award recognises the bond issue of the year that was most visible, well received and best taken up by the market. The sale was managed by Deutsche Bank.

The Spire Awards are presented by BESA in association with the Bond Traders Association (BTA). I-Net Bridge sponsors the awards and KPMG audits all results.

Says MTN Group Finance Director, Mr Rob Nisbet: “It is an honour to have been given this recognition for our very first venture into the corporate bond market. Funding raised from this bond, together with funding we had available, supported the successful conclusion of the Investcom deal.”

MTN’s bond has also recently been included in BESA’s All Bond Index as a reflection of its size and liquidity.

The total book size of MTN’s bond exceeded ZAR10 billion. However, giving consideration to other available funding in respect of the Investcom transaction, the final issue size was settled at ZAR6.3 and a ZAR1.3 billion eight-year bond. The bonds were priced at spreads of 145 and 150 bps above the government R153 and R201 benchmarks respectively.

In June this year the MTN Group received its first international investment grade rating from Moody's Investors Service who assigned the Group a global scale rating of Baa3 and an A3.za South African national scale rating with stable outlook. Fitch Ratings also assigned the MTN a South African national long-term rating of A+ (zaf) with stable outlook.