Over the past two decades, the GSE has provided a platform for companies to raise capital and also the investor community both domestic and foreign to invest in equities and bonds including the three year, five years and the recent seven year bonds issued by Government.
The high level of confidence investors have in the exchange is underscored by its accolade as one of the best performing markets in Africa in terms of returns to investors. I applaud the GSE management for their hard work.
As many of you may recall, the Ghana Eurobond was officially issued on 7 August 2013. The final Eurobond size was $1 billion issued at a coupon rate of 7.875%. Currently, the bond is trading at 8.17% on the Irish Stock Exchange in Dublin, The Republic of Ireland and today, we will launch the second leg of the Eurobond trading on the Ghana Stock market.
This is significant in many ways. Although we already have the Ghana 2017 Eurobond trading in global financial markets, this recent issue for the first time offered local investors the opportunity to purchase the Eurobond.
I was particularly happy to observe participation by some Ghanaian institutional investors at the issue and local investors now hold some $16.5 million of the Ghana 2023 Eurobond. With this listing; these investors as well as prospective ones can trade them on the secondary market here in Ghana.