Gabon Says Nedbank, Aveng Agree to Deal on $1 Billion Bond

Nedbank Group Ltd. (NED) and construction company Aveng Ltd. (AEG) have agreed to a Gabon government proposal to settle a legal dispute that delayed coupon payments on $1 billion of Eurobonds, said Sylvain Allogho, an adviser to the economy minister.

“Gabon will settle the actual dispute with Aveng and Nedbank as soon as possible about the bond issued in 2007,” Allogho said today by phone from Libreville, the capital.

Calls to the office and mobile phone for Brian Kennedy, the managing executive of Nedbank Capital, went unanswered and he didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg’s message. Aveng’s finance director, Kobus Verster, didn’t immediately return Bloomberg’s phone request to his office for comment.

The oil-producing West African nation said June 20 that it would make a June coupon payment on the Eurobonds “as soon as possible” after a court order froze funds intended for note- holders.

To contact the reporters on this story: Antoine Lawson in Libreville at ankolo@bloomberg.net; Robert Brand in Cape Town at rbrand9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hilton Shone at hshone@bloomberg.net