Govt shelves bond plan on market conditions

LONDON (Reuters) - Ghana has postponed plans for a $300 million debt issue due to poor global market conditions, one of the banks arranging the deal said on Thursday.

Touted as one of Africa's most appealing "frontier markets" on gold, cocoa and upcoming oil production, Ghana's stock market has continued to hit record highs despite recent global turmoil following the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers.

But with Eurobond issues drying up due to persistent liquidity problems in the global financial markets, Renaissance Capital, mandated along with JPMorgan to launch the deal, said the debt issue was unlikely to happen this year.

"It is difficult to sell anything to anybody at the moment, and there are quite a few deals that are being held up," Renaissance head of credit research for Africa John Bates told Reuters.

JPMorgan declined to comment.

The deal was expected to be a private placement from a loan participation facility that was recently set up.

"Nothing has been drawn on the facility due to market conditions," Bates said.

Indications earlier in the month were that the deal would be a $300 million 7-year bond with a put option after two years. The bond was to clear $228 million debts the state assumed from Ghana Telecom after privatisation.

DIFFICULT CLIMATE

Postponing the bond is the second piece of bad news for Ghana in two days. On Wednesday, the presidency said respected finance minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu had died in a South African hospital after a short illness.

The world's second largest cocoa grower after Ivory Coast and Africa's second biggest gold miner, Ghana last year became the first African country outside South Africa to issue a Eurobond.

That issue was four times oversubscribed on optimism over Ghana's growth and was followed by another from fellow African commodity producing country Gabon, with Kenya among other African countries openly eyeing the international bond market.

Kenya says it intends to push ahead but analysts are sceptical it will be able to do so in the current climate.

Eurobond issues have dried up in the aftermath of the Lehman collapse, with emerging markets generally pounded by increased risk aversion as investors fret that U.S. economic problems will spark a global economic slowdown.

Investor appetite for frontier markets such as sub-Saharan Africa has diminished because of the global market turmoil, although the relative isolation of some small economies is seen offering some protection.

Ukraine had also touted a potential Eurobond but has not come to market and has indicated it may abandon the issue.

Some emerging market corporates are also postponing deals. Ukraine's energy holding company DTEK, owned by the country's richest man Rinat Akhmetov, said on Thursday it would not yet issue its debut Eurobond worth $300 million.