Bailed outAfrican Bank Ltd. has repurchased debt worth $276 million from its foreign currency-denominatedbond holders.
The public tenderoffer for the foreign bonds was launched July 1 and closed July 13.The bank repurchased $69 million of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and CHF207 millionof bonds.
African Bank had repurchased the equivalent of $49 million bondsin the open market prior to launching the tender offer, leaving a total of CHF228million and $479 million outstanding under its $6 billion euro medium-term noteprogram.
The exercise, aimed at reducing interest expenses and boostingregulatory capital among other things, brings the bank's total amount of bond repurchasesto $325 billion since April.
South Africa's central bank recapitalized African Bank afterparent African Bank Investments Ltd.collapsed in 2014.