EABL to pay interest on Sh6b bond at end of March

Listed beer maker, East African Breweries Ltd (EABL), will pay interest to bondholders at the end of this month. The latest payment will be the eighth on EABL’s Tranche two of Sh6 billion fixed-rate notes that were due to mature in 2022.

The brewer, in a statement to the Nairobi Securities Exchange Chief Executive Geoffrey Odundo on a pricing supplement issued, said it will honour its payment on March 29, 2021, at a rate of 14.17 per cent per annum. It will be paid to noteholders whose names appear on the register of the issue at the close of business on March 12, 2021.

“The interest will be paid at a fixed rate of 14.17 per cent per annum (on the amount of notes held) to the noteholders whose names appear on the register of bondholders as at the close of business March 12, 2021,” said the brewer in a letter to the NSE boss. “Meanwhile kindly acknowledge receipt of this letter on the attached duplicate of the same.”

The brewer in 2017 said the issuance of the second and final tranche of its Domestic Medium Term Note Programme was to raise Sh6 billion.

The Note bear interest at a fixed annual rate of at least 14.17 per cent until maturity on March 28, 2022.

This was the second phase of the Sh11 billion programme, which raised Sh5 billion in 2015, an issuance that recorded 180 per cent subscription.

The second and final tranche provided EABL with an opportunity to match its borrowings with its medium-to-long-term capital expenditure and working capital investment aimed at building capacity and optimising operations.

The issue is aimed at achieving an optimal capital structure.

Last year, EABL received a three-year extension to remain in breach of terms attached to its Sh6 billion corporate bond, which required its current assets including cash to match short-term liabilities like supplier debt.