Sarwa Capital, Egypt's leading consumer and structured financial services provider, announced on Saturday that Sarwa Securitization SAE has closed its latest issue of EGP 1.8bn in securitisation bonds backed by the Contact Auto Credit portfolios and its affiliated companies. The bonds consist of three tranches with tenors of 13, 37, and 59 months. They received high ratings of AA+, AA, and A respectively by Middle East Ratings and Investors Service (MERIS). This issue brings the total issuances by Sarwa Securitization to EGP 19bn to date with 28 issuances of which EGP 13bn have been repaid in full at maturity. The issue has seen strong demand from institutional investors and banks which reflects investor confidence in Sarwa Securitization issuances as the leading private issuer of bonds in the market, the first and largest issuer of securitization bonds, and the first to issue bonds backed by real estate receivables. Group Chief Financial Officer Ayman Elsawy said, "We are proud of the success achieved over the years in diversifying our group's funding sources and attracting new financial institutions to participate for the first time in this issuance. He added, "In parallel, the debt market has seen increased activity from issuers which is a significant development in deepening the fixed income market in Egypt. We expect this to contribute towards activating the secondary market which we hope to achieve with the help of regulators and all stakeholders." Sarwa Promoting & Underwriting acted as lead manager, arranger, and underwriter on the transaction, while Banque Misr, Arab African International Bank, and Misr Capital Investments acted as underwriters and arrangers too. The issue was co-underwritten by the Commercial International Bank (CIB), Ahli United Bank, Egyptian Gulf Bank, and Arab Legal Consultants (ALC) acted as Legal Advisors for the transaction.
