Rwanda opens second regional bond seeking Sh1.98 billion

What you need to know:

The bond, to be listed on the Rwanda Stock Exchange, is open to Kenyan retail and institutional investors with CDS accounts at commercial banks or licensed brokers.

Rwanda has opened its second regional bond seeking to raise Sh1.98 billion, mainly to finance infrastructure development.

The bond, to be listed on the Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE), is open to Kenyan retail and institutional investors with CDS accounts at commercial banks or licensed brokers.

National Bank of Rwanda said the five-year bond’s price will be determined by market demand.

“Price will be quoted by competitive bidders,” said the prospectus for the bond by Kigali. Proceeds from the bond, besides infrastructure, will be used to deepen the Kigali capital markets.

Successful sale

The security will be on sale from August 25 to 29 while listing of the notes on the Rwanda Stock Exchange is expected to take place on September 2.

This is the second offer marketed regionally this year following the February bond that targeted raising Rwandese franc 12.5 billion (Sh1.58 billion). Rwandese Treasury officials came to Nairobi to market the bond as part of the regional launch.

At the time, officials said there was growing interest in government bonds following the successful sale of the country’s first sovereign bond which raised $400 million (Sh34.8 billion).

More regional bond issues are driven by both public and private sector issuers. Lobby Kenya Association of Stockbrokers and Investment Banks (Kasib) has said it will push to have Treasury, infrastructure and corporate bonds marketed regionally but trade at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

“We will position the NSE as the foreign currency denominated bond issuing centre...,” the lobby has said.