Sanral bond auction hit by e-toll uncertainty
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) says that investor confidence in the group has been negatively impacted by the uncertainty created by the Gauteng government’s decision to set up an e-toll review panel.
The panel was appointed by Gauteng premier David Makhura in July to examine the economic and social impact of the GFIP and the e-tolling system to fund it.
Sanral was due to give its testimony on Wednesday (5 November), while the panel would present its findings to Makhura at the end of the month.
In the final auction for the 2014 calendar year, Sanral said it wanted to raise at least R500 million, as the next auction is only scheduled for February 2015.
However, despite total bids of R765 million being received, the prices were much wider than the guidance and therefore only R415 million was allocated, Sanral said.
“The lack of interest among investors was unfortunate given the presentations made to the panel by the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters and senior government officials over the past two days.”
“The minister expressed strong support for Sanral indicating that the e-toll system in Gauteng will continue in terms of decisions taken by the Cabinet,” Sanral said.
“Investors are sensitive to policy uncertainty and they clearly communicated this today,” said Sanral CFO, Inge Mulder.
“We trust that the strong endorsement of Sanral in the minister of transport’s presentation to the review panel on Tuesday and her assurance of government support to the agency will reduce the levels of uncertainties in the future and draw investors back to future bond auctions,” she said.
The next Sanral bond auction is scheduled for February 2015.
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