Africa Finance Corp debut $750 mln Eurobond sees heavy demand

LAGOS (Reuters) - Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a Lagos-based development financier, has issued a five-year debut $750 million Eurobond at 4.375 percent attracting $4.7 billion in bids from institutional investors in Asia, Europe and the U.S. The Nigeria-based development institution, in which seven west African states including Nigeria and Ghana own a 46 percent stake, was set up to provide public and private money for major infrastructure projects around Africa. AFC said the notes, which mature in April 2020, will be the first issue under a $3 billion global medium term note program. The AFC said it would use the proceeds of the dollar bond for financing projects and to repay all outstanding amounts under its existing short-term facility. "The Eurobonds were placed following a seven day roadshow across three continents and involving meetings with over 100 institutional investors ... enabling a well-diversified distribution among international institutional investors across Asia, Europe and the U.S.," the AFC said in a statement. Created in 2007 to help increase much-needed investments in the key infrastructure, transport and heavy industries sectors in Africa, AFC has already invested $500 million in projects worth a total $4 billion from Cape Verde to Zambia.