Safaricom says its bond to open on October 7

NAIROBI, Oct 6

Kenya's leading mobile telephone operator Safaricom will on October 7 start the sale of the first tranche of its 12 billion shillings ($158.8 million) bond after securing all regulatory approval, the firm said on Tuesday.

Worth up to 5 billion shillings and with a five-year tenor, the tranche will have both floating and fixed rates, Safaricom said in a newspaper advertisement.

The offer, whose pricing will be unveiled separately, closes on October 29.

Barclays Bank Kenya in association with South Africa's Absa Bank Kenyan CFC Stanbic and CFC Stanbic Financial Services are arranging the issue.

Safaricom joins a list of growing Kenyan firms that are tapping the debt market to raise capital.

The company is the region's biggest by market capitalisation and is frequently the most traded stock on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

A recent Sh15 billion bond issue by Kenya's main electricity generator KenGen is said to have been oversubscribed.

-Reuters