BRICS bank raises R1.5 billion in debut South African bond sale

The New Development Bank, a financial institution created by the BRICS bloc of emerging markets, raised R1.5 billion ($94 million) at its first-ever South African bond auction. 

Shanghai-based NDB, established by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, received more than R2.5 billion of bids for the three- and five-year bonds, enabling it to increase the size of the deal.

It allocated 71% to institutional investors and the rest to local banks in Tuesday’s sale, it said in a statement Wednesday.

“NDB is seeking to increase its presence in the local capital markets of its member countries to fund its robust portfolio of local currency loans,” said Leslie Maasdorp, NDB’s chief financial officer.

“The proceeds will be used to fund infrastructure and sustainable development projects in South Africa.”

The sale was arranged by Standard Bank Group and Absa Group. Mamokete Lijane, global markets strategist at Standard Bank, told a Bloomberg event in Johannesburg Wednesday that there’s a substantial pool of available capital that ends up gravitating toward credit.