South African telco MTN showed that demand remains healthy for credits that tick the right boxes with a debut transaction that provided some much needed new dollar paper from a CEEMEA investment-grade corporate. The company, rated Baa2 by Moody's and BBB by Standard & Poor's, issued US$750m of 10-year 144A/Reg S bonds on Monday off a US$3bn book, pricing 15bp inside initial price thoughts. Its investment-grade rating, choice of tenor, which hit accounts' sweet spot, as well as strong business story - it operates in 22 countries across Africa and the Middle East with 250m subscribers - meant investors were scrabbling for the bonds from the outset.
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