KMF Places Bonds on KASE

On September 8, KMF, which is the largest microfinance organization in Kazakhstan, placed two-year bonds on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and raised more than $17 million.

The coupon rate is 13% per annum with payments twice a year.

According to Centras Securities, an underwriter of the offering, the demand for bonds was 104.6%.KASE data shows that58.7% of buyers were institutional investors, 23.2% brokerage firms, 5.5% companies and organizations, and 12.6% were individuals.

Last year Kazakhstani regulator allowed MFO to raise the money on stock exchanges. This decision was strongly supported by ShalkarJusupov, chairman of the board in KMF. On September 2, while responding to questions from investors and other stock market participants, he said that KMF has no need for liquidity. However, the company wants to show the entire industry what the new fund-raising opportunity looks like.

«As a big company we are going to put a benchmark, to demonstrate to other players what we’ve done and say ‘hey, look, this is possible’,» he said.

Now, KMF wants to widen its offering to raise $46.9 million in total.

KMF is the largest microfinance organization in the country, havingoperated in Kazakhstan since 1997. With total assets of $374.7 million and own capital of $115.6, it has a market share of 27%. On June 9, Fitch rating agency assigned the company its В+ rating. The outlook is stable.

Among KMF’s stakeholders are international non-profit ACDI VOCA (45.5%), Dutch investment bank Triodos Investment Management (24.7%), and asset management company ResponsAbility (24.2%).

In 2020 Kazakhstani regulator allowed MFOs to place their bond on the country’s stock exchanges. That year the industry raised about $46.9 million. At the same time, the total credit portfolio of 229 microfinance companies in Kazakhstan reached $1 billion. 

As of August 1, total assets of the entire microfinance industry in Kazakhstan were about $3.2 billion. In the second quarter this rate’s growth was 8.9% and 15.4% if counted from the beginning of the year.