ESLA Plc has announced that it is going to pay investors who bought bonds under the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) their outstanding coupon payments worth GHS 266.44 million due them.
This is according to the ESLA Investor Update report published by the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) which says the GHS 266.44 million has been transferred to the Trustee who will be making interest payments to bondholders of tranches E3 and E4 in December 2020 and January 2021.
Out of the outstanding amount, GHS167.19 million, representing 63 percent is to paid to bondholders of tranche E4 and the remaining 37 percent of the coupon payments due which translates into GHS99.25 million is to be disbursed to the holders of bond tranche E3.
“E.S.L.A Plc has since inception successfully settled all payment obligations to bondholders without delay,” the report indicated adding that “a total of GHS 3.615 billion has been paid as interest payment for the benefit of bondholders of tranches E1 to E4 bonds”.
However, actual amount received by investors in terms of coupon payments out of the total funds set aside for debt service from 2018 up to date is GHS 3.349 billion, the report cautioned.
Giving a breakdown of the debt securities issued so far, the report revealed that “In 2017, ESLA successfully issued the first bonds under the Bond Programme (the Programme), Tranche E1 and Tranche E2 maturing in 2024 and 2027 respectively, and raising GHS 4.784 billion in total” to refinance energy sector debts.
“An additional GHS 880 million of Tranche E 2 was also raised in 2018. ESLA has also issued Tranche E3 a GHS 1 billion 2029 maturity bond in 2019.
“In January 2020, ESLA issued a 12-year bond under Tranche E4 which raised GHS 430 million and subsequently in March same year, a further circa GHS 1.20 billion was issued under Tranche E4 (Tranche E4-B),” the report stated.
E.S.L.A. Plc (ESLA) is a public limited liability company established in 2017 as an independent Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) primarily to issue debt securities to refinance energy sector debts.
This entity was established by the Government of Ghana (GoG) acting through the Ministry of Finance (MoF), with the National Trust Holding Company (NTHC) as its sole nominee shareholder. ESLA is managed by KPMG a firm which offers audit, tax and advisory services as the Administrator.
In conclusion, the general investing public is to note that the bonds issued by ESLA Plc are “backed by the Energy Debt Recovery Levy (EDRL) imposed under the Energy Sector Levy Act 2015”.
