African Cities/Municipalities: Bonds, the Way Forward

"African cities and municipalities are trying to diversify sources of finance. This event is part of a process to encouraging them to tap the capital markets and to involve the private sector through mechanisms as bond issuance. The event will seek to bridge the knowledge and information gap and answer questions, both from prospective issuers and investors (hedge funds, investment banks and private equity firms) joined by advisors/facilitators (law firms), guarantors, rating analysts and regulators—as they share their insights on what has been done and how, what's likely to come next, and how can African municipalities/cities be prepared to enter the African Municipal Bonds Market. Besides it will follows on the recommendations of the Africa Municipal Bonds Forum, organized by Markets of Africa in April 2016 and hosted by the City of Dakar, Senegal, in terms of: 1. Knowledge shared with potential African municipalities/cities bonds issuers; 2. Global platform provided to African cities issuing municipal bonds; 3. Promotion of the African Municipal Bonds Market platform; On a more practical grounds the event will discuss issues such as: The outlook for the African municipal bonds market for 2017 ; identification of potential issuers of municipal bonds; identification of institutional investors their volume of activity; “appetite” to invest in municipalities; and the issues affecting investors’ relationships with issuers ; consolidation trends and the prospect for increased municipal bonds; overall view from the decision for financing through to the conclusion of successful transactions and conditions for its replicability in other African municipalities; where to focus efforts to ensure business and regulatory requirements are met; the role of each party involved in advancing the regulatory environment and related responsibilities; training availability and capacity building from credit rating agencies, independent public finance advisers, bond counsel lawyers, investment banks, trust companies."