Investors update: African Development Bank bond exceeds expectations

African Development Bank issues $2bn global benchmark bond

Highlights

• The African Development Bank (AfDB) has issued a $2 billion 5-year Global Benchmark bond due on March 14, 2028, marking its first bond issue of the year.
• The bond garnered good investor demand, drawing an order of $2.1 billion by the time books officially opened from 95 investors, including Central Banks and Official Institutions.
• The raise is part of the bank’s funding strategy of issuing large liquid benchmark transactions and eventually exceeded $3.5 billion.

Source: Nairametrics

Our Takeaway

Africa is a diverse investment destination with significant potential opportunities across many sectors and in private and public markets, as well as real assets. Thus the success of AfDB’s bond issuance comes as no surprise and is even more impressive given that the world is currently grappling with several unprecedented economic challenges. No doubt, the issuance reflects unwavering investor interest in Africa’s economic potential despite the region’s current challenges.

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Andela acquires technical skills assessment platform Qualified

Highlights

• Andela has acquired a 100% stake in Qualified, an assessment platform that certifies top engineering talents, for an undisclosed sum. The deal will add about 3.6 million engineering talents to Andela’s global community. 
• These talents were previously users of Codewars, an online community run by Qualified that enables technical talents to compete among themselves and develop practical coding skills through gamified challenges.
• This is Andela’s first publicly announced acquisition, and it comes on the back of the company’s renewed focus on senior developers.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

Tech companies and giants are increasingly looking to Africa in search of software engineers to meet the growing demand for tech-savvy employees globally. Already, 38% of African developers work for at least one company based outside of the continent and the demand for software engineers is expected to grow by 22% between 2020 and 2030. Backed by over $381 million in VC funding, Andela has grown to support vibrant technical talent communities in over 170 countries. Notably, the company has a focus on emerging markets like Nigeria, where it first began operations in 2014.

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Bitcoin plunges to January levels, 2023 gains wiped out

Highlights

• Bitcoin fell below $20,000 on Friday hitting a near-two-month low after a stock market sell-off in the U.S.
• Another factor weighing on crypto prices is the collapse of Silvergate Capital, a major lender to the crypto industry. Silvergate said Wednesday it is winding down operations and liquidating its bank.
• Investors are also on edge after tech-focused Silicon Valley Bank said it sold off $21 billion worth of its holdings at a $1.8 billion loss.

Source: CNBC

Our Takeaway

Bitcoin has seen more than $70 billion wiped off its value over the course of the 24 hours, dragging along with it altcoins like Ripple’s XRP, which fell 7.4%, and Binance’s BNB, which dipped 6.4% as of report time. Stablecoins have been the only exception and are now being positioned by investors as the main entry and exit points for cryptocurrency trading amid the market crash.