Egypt picks four banks for Eurobond issuance set for April

Egypt's Finance Ministry chose investments banks Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, AlexBank (a member of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group) and Standard Chartered to manage and promote a €1-1.5 billion Euro-denominated bond issuance set for April of this financial year, the ministry announced Monday in a statement.

The ministry also picked Al Tamimi & Company and US-based Dechert for the issuance as legal advisors to the government.

Egypt's $4 billion bond issuance in February was more than three-times oversubscribed.

The government is planning on issuing $3-4 billion in Eurobonds during the next fiscal year 2018/2019.

The upcoming issuance is part of the ministry's moves to fulfill funding needs in a bid to plug the budget deficit and raise its foreign currency reserves.

Egypt's foreign reserves rose to $42.524 billion by the end of February from $38.209 billion the month before, the central bank earlier this month.