BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 15
Trend:
“Damu” Fund has placed a new financial instrument – social bonds registered by the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market in early September 2021, Trend reports, referring to the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
The total amount of securities placed amounted to 1 billion tenge ($2.3 million), the maturity period is 5 years, the yield is 11.9 percent, the frequency of coupon payments is 2 times a year.
The debut issue of social bonds focused on the principles of sustainable development was carried out on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange JSC (KASE) platform and was purchased by local institutional investors. The broker and underwriter of the transaction were Halyk Finance.
The funds from social bonds are planned to be used to finance small and medium-sized businesses from the most affected sectors of the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic through second-tier banks, microfinance organizations, or leasing companies.
This issue fully complies with the principles of social bonds (SBP) of the International Association of Capital Markets (ICMA), which is confirmed by an independent conclusion of JSC "Expert RA Rating Agency".
The principles of sustainable development include three main components – environmental, social, and corporate areas of financing (Environmental, Social Governance – ESG).
The purpose of the social bond market is to develop debt instruments for financing projects aimed at solving social problems. In this case, a positive social effect will be achieved by preserving existing jobs and creating new ones.
In August 2020, the “Damu” Fund issued pilot "green bonds".
