It seems it will take more than "Ramaphoria", as it’s been called in SA, to spur the country’s corporate debt issuers into action. South African assets have rallied since Cyril Ramaphosa was elected ANC leader in December, setting him on a path to replace Jacob Zuma as the country’s president last month. With economic growth accelerating, inflation slowing and the new administration acting against corrupt officials, business confidence soared to a three-year high this month. Still, bond sales by South African companies are off to the slowest start to a year since 2014 following record issuance last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Companies that have held back on investment amid the political uncertainty of the past few years will want further evidence of policy continuity and economic recovery, says Mike van der Westhuizen, a portfolio manager at Citadel in Johannesburg. "Corporate issuers will not be in a rush to ramp up issuance purely based on short-term sentiment,...
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