Contact to sell $83 million in securitised notes

Egyptian car purchase financier Contact will on July 7 sell EGP470 million (Dh304.61m, $83m) in bonds securitising expected car payments, the chief underwriter said yesterday.

The bond, Contact's sixth since the company entered the market about 10 years ago, consolidates EGB623m in receivables whose underlying assets are more than 5,000 automobiles, the underwriter said. "It is the first time for Contact to list this bond in three tranches with different maturities," said Eyad Moustafa of Cairo-based Banque Misr, which won the mandate for the bond. "This will make it suitable for different investors."

The subscription will begin on July 11 and continue for 60 days or until it is covered. Some 90 per cent of the issue will be sold in a private placement and the other 10 per cent to the public through bank branches, Moustafa said.

In addition to Banque Misr, Arab African International Bank and Ahli United Bank Egypt have agreed to co-underwrite the bond issue. The issue includes a 13-month EGP178.6m note with a yield of 9.375 per cent, a 37-month EGP216.2m note with a yield of 10.25 per cent and a 60-month EGP75.2m note with a yield of 10.75 per cent.

Earlier this month, Egypt's AT Lease said it was privately placing up to EGP570m of Islamic collateralised mortgage obligations , the first in Egypt to be split into separate tranches.