Nairobi, Feb. 19 -- The Treasury has bought back $1.44 billion (Sh210 billion) out of the outstanding $2 billion (Sh291.7 billion) of its 2014 Eurobond, opting to utilise the entire amount it raised from a new bond issued last week to partially retire the older paper.

The new bond, whose sale concluded on February 13, raised a gross amount of $1.5 billion (Sh218.8 billion), which netted at $1.46 billion after payment of lead arranger fees.

The Treasury said in a notice on the outcome of the buyback exercise that bondholders had offered to sell a total of $1.48 billion.

Earlier, the government had set a cap of $1.4 billion for the buyback, but exercised its prerogative to take up a higher amount to accommodate the higher amount offered ...