TOKYO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Top-rated bonds to fund vaccines for children in poor countries will raise the equivalent of $429 million in an offering to Japanese retail investors, more than expected, the organisers said. The International Finance Facility for Immunisation Company (IFFIm), which raises funds to support a vaccine-focused alliance including governments and UNICEF, offered the bonds in South African rand, New Zealand dollars and Australian dollars. The largest tranche is in rand <ZAR=> at 3.17 billion rand, the equivalent of $310 million, IFFIm and its partners said in a joint statement late on Thursday. IFFIm said last month it was looking to raise $250 million or more in the offer. [ID:nT278940] The issue was arranged by Daiwa Securities SMBC and offers a coupon of 6.26 percent on the rand tranche, 2.65 percent on the New Zealand dollar tranche and 2.6 percent on the Australian dollar portion. "The issue size is larger than expected and this is a testament to the powerful and socially responsible message involved which, even in tough market conditions, has struck a positive chord with key investors," Vince Purton, managing director of Debt Capital Markets Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe Ltd, said in the statement. Proceeds from IFFIm's bond sales go to support the work of the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership which aims to improve health in the poorest countries and has provided vaccines for 213 million children since its creation in 2000. Alice Albright, GAVI's chief financial officer, said proceeds from the bond sale would enable the alliance to help poor countries protect their children from deadly diseases such as hepatitis B, measles, polio, and yellow fever. (Reporting by Charlotte Cooper; Editing by Brent Kininmont)
A cholera patient rests inside an ambulance at Mabvuku Polyclinic in Harare February 4, 2009. Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has killed more than 3,000 people and infected 63,000, according to U.N. figures. ...
