(Bloomberg) -- Ghana picked five banks, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase & Co., as lead arrangers for the nation's proposed sale of as much as $3 billion in Eurobonds, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The three other main advisers are Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered Plc and Standard Bank Group Ltd., said the people, who asked not to be identified because they're not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The West African nation also appointed Accra-based Fidelity Bank Ltd., IC Securities Ltd. and Databank Group as co-arrangers, said one of the people.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta didn't answer calls seeking comment. JPMorgan, Bank of America, StanChart and Morgan Stanley declined to comment on emailed queries, while spokesmen and officials for Standard Bank, IC Securities, Databank and Fidelity didn't answer calls.
Ghana needs $2 billion in foreign-currency debt to help finance its 2019 budget and will sell an additional $1 billion if it's able to issue the securities at lower rates than what it's paying for existing bonds. The nation is exiting an almost $1 billion bailout program it entered into with the International Monetary Fund in 2015, when a currency crisis prompted its debt obligations to soar. A final review is due before April 4.
Read more: Ghana seen facing discipline test as IMF bailout nears end
The world's second-biggest cocoa grower and the continent's largest gold producer after South Africa is forecast to grow 7.6 percent this year, from a projected 5.6 percent in 2018, according to the government.
--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina.
To contact the reporters on this story: Moses Mozart Dzawu in Accra at mdzawu@bloomberg.net;Ekow Dontoh in Accra at edontoh@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andre Janse van Vuuren at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net, Alec D.B. McCabe
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
