On 23 January 2024 Côte d’Ivoire placed US$2.6bn across two bonds, a US$1.5bn 13-year at 8.5% and a US$1.1bn 9-year ESG bond at 7.875%, drawing an order book of over US$8bn, the largest ever for a West African sovereign, and (unprecedentedly for an SSA issuer) executing a simultaneous EUR/USD hedge for effective euro costs of 6.30% and 6.85%. Proceeds funded a debt-management operation buying back Eurobonds and bank loans; spreads compressed below 600bps for the first time since 2022, and the deal reopened the market that Kenya and Benin followed within weeks.
Value: First sub-Saharan issuer in two years; record US$8bn order book (verified against public announcements).
Advisers: deal counsel not named in official releases; White & Case publicly lists “Debt Capital Markets Legal Adviser of the Year” and a Republic of Côte d’Ivoire sovereign-bond deal award credit, deal-specific attribution to the January 2024 issuance flagged [R].
Recorded by The Meridian research desk from public announcements, regulatory filings and financial press coverage. Dates and values are as publicly reported.
