Photo for illustrative purposes: A Transnet SOC freight train stands idle with wagons loaded with coal in a rural area on 2 October 2023, south of Leeu Gamka, South Africa. Picture: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images South Africa’s listed credit market ended the fourth quarter of 2025 at about R50 billion, dominated by banks and financial services. This is according to Futuregrowth Asset Management’s latest listed credit report.
The approximately R50 billion of gross term issuance recorded in the fourth quarter was slightly below the R53 billion raised in the previous quarter. Beyond banks and financial services firms, corporates raised R13 billion, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) R12 billion and securitisations R4 billion. Municipalities, however, remained absent from the market for a third consecutive year.
Futuregrowth attributes the continued oversubscription of auctions and tightening of spreads to a combination of strong and growing demand, constrained supply, less attractive alternatives such as government floaters, aggressive bidding by banks in certain auctions, and improving credit fundamentals among issuers. According to Futuregrowth, Transnet’s November auction stood out not just for its scale but for the strength of demand. The SOE raised R5 billion across five-, eight- and 10-year floating-rate notes, as well as a 10-year fixed-rate note. This signals renewed investor confidence, but Futuregrowth head of credit Olga Constantatos cautions that the entity’s reform process could be compromised by conflicts of interest, just as private operators begin entering the rail network.
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