African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) has completed its second Samurai bond issuance in the Japanese debt capital market, raising a total of JPY 81.8 billion, approximately USD 527 million. This development follows its 2024 debut and represents a significant advancement in the Bank’s strategy to broaden its investor base while diversifying funding sources across global capital markets.
The transaction comprised two components: a JPY 45.8 billion three year tranche in the Regular Samurai market and a JPY 36.0 billion three year tranche in the Retail Samurai market. The latter more than doubled the Bank’s previous retail issuance of JPY 14.1 billion, making it the largest retail issuance by Afreximbank in Japan to date and the first of its kind issued in the Japanese market in 2025.
Executed in collaboration with SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. as Sole Lead Manager and Bookrunner, the bond attracted wide ranging investor interest. Over 100 institutional and retail investors participated, including asset managers, life insurers, regional corporations and high net worth individuals. The Regular Samurai tranche saw notable uptake from asset managers (22.3 percent), life insurers (15.3 percent) and private investors, suggesting both institutional confidence and retail appetite for African-linked credit instruments in the Japanese market.
Investor engagement was strategically timed around the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9), leveraging both in person engagements and a global investor call. Afreximbank held a non deal roadshow spanning Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka, followed by a soft sounding process that gauged appetite across a range of maturities. In response to anticipated changes in Japanese monetary policy and the prospect of a future Bank of Japan rate adjustment, investor demand favoured shorter tenors, leading to the finalisation of a three year maturity structure.
Following an amendment to Afreximbank’s shelf registration on 7 November 2025, SMBC Nikko undertook a comprehensive seven day demand survey across its nationwide retail network. This was succeeded by a six business day offering period, during which the transaction achieved full subscription. Visibility of the offering was further strengthened by Afreximbank’s proactive presence during TICAD9, notably through the hosting of the Africa Finance Seminar. The event provided an opportunity to showcase the Bank’s development mandate, credit profile and regional integration role to Japanese investors, aligning with its objective to project African development finance institutions as credible actors in global financial markets.
Chandi Mwenebungu, Managing Director of Treasury and Markets and Group Treasurer at Afreximbank, highlighted the strategic significance of the issuance. He remarked that the success of the 2025 Samurai bond offerings reflected a deepening partnership with Japanese investors and signalled growing confidence in the Bank’s credit and mandate.
Afreximbank’s consistent access to the Samurai market stands as an indicator of Japan’s receptiveness to African multilateral development institutions. The Bank’s engagement in Japan also underscores a maturing Africa Asia financial dialogue that resists simplistic donor recipient frameworks. Instead, it reflects a more dynamic paradigm of partnership and shared interest in infrastructure, trade and continental integration. The bond issuance is also aligned with the Bank’s broader funding strategy, which supports its pan African agenda, regional value chain development and trade finance facilitation.
While the issuance remains technical in its construction, its implications are far reaching. It signals a growing global appetite for African sovereign and multilateral credit and highlights the possibility of expanding African issuers’ access to non traditional capital markets. For Japanese investors, it presents a rare yet increasingly familiar exposure to African assets, contributing to portfolio diversification while reinforcing the narrative of Africa as a viable and investible financial destination.
The transaction’s completion demonstrates that African institutions can operate with confidence, competence and credibility on the global stage. Through instruments such as Samurai bonds, Afreximbank continues to reshape global perceptions of African finance by anchoring them in substance, discipline and long term vision rather than charity driven narratives.
