The Republic of South Africa, through the National Treasury, has called for eligible market participants to submit proposals that will raise a minimum amount of US$ 500 million for the country’s foreign currency borrowing programme.
This as National Treasury is seeking to supplement its foreign currency borrowing programme for the 2025/26 fiscal year by exploring innovative and cost-effective financing mechanisms.
“Proposals should raise, on a stand-alone or combined basis, a minimum amount of US$ 500 million. If funding is offered in another hard currency, the counterparty must commit to swapping the proceeds into US dollars at closing,” National Treasury said in a statement on Friday.
This funding initiative aims to diversifying the sovereign’s hard currency funding toolkit beyond a traditional Eurobond; reduce execution risk and minimise the all-in cost of funds; and maintain flexibility for future liability management actions aligned with evolving market conditions.
Government is expecting responses from primary dealers in South African government securities; internationally active arranging banks; multilateral institutions; institutional investors; and other regulated financial entities with capacity to fund at scale, either directly or through an arranging bank.
Treasury will consider a range of instruments, including, but not limited to:
• bilateral term loans;
• private placements of floating rate notes;
• repurchase agreements against sovereign collateral;
• cross-currency or total return swaps with funding legs in US dollars, and
• other structured note formats.
Proposals incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) or sustainability-linked features are encouraged, particularly if aligned with the National Treasury’s ESG framework.
Proposals will be assessed on the basis of:
• overall cost of funds (spread over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) or equivalent benchmark);
• speed and certainty of execution;
• compatibility with the sovereign’s maturity profile and debt service peaks;
• operational simplicity; and resilience to market shocks, including currency volatility and rate spikes.
Interested parties have been advised to submit a PDF term sheet, including proposed amount, tenor, pricing and indicative spread; settlement date; key covenants or conditions precedent; collateral requirements (if any); governing law and documentation platform; and any relevant ESG characteristics.
Deadline for submission
The deadline for the submission of proposals is Wednesday, 6 August 2025, at 12:00 South African Standard Time (SAST).
The evaluation window will start on Thursday, 7 August 2025 – Friday, 29 August 2025.
This request contains no material, non-public information and may be shared with public-side desks. All proposals and follow-up discussions will be treated confidentially and will comply with all applicable South African public finance regulations.
Submission channel and contacts are as follows:
• Please email proposals to: debtissuanceandmanagement@treasury.gov.za
Enquiries may be directed to:
• Terry Bomela Msomi Director: Treasury Funding Tel: +27 12 315 5135
• Wanga Cibi Chief Director: Liability Management Tel: +27 12 315 5132
– SAnews.gov.za
