M-Akiba bond returns Ksh.263M against Ksh.500M target

The mobile-traded government bond, M-Akiba, has once again failed to meet its target after raising Ksh.263 million against an expected return of Ksh.500 million in its third re-opening.

The falling uptake is against a recent revision of targets by the bonds retailer — the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) — by a further Ksh.250 million following a combination of its July and September issues.

At the same time, the falling subscription sits along two previous misses which when combined leave a significant hole in the government quest to finance its infrastructure project through Mwananchi funding.

Even so, uptake to the third reopening of the mobile-money account traded infrastructure bond has crossed the Ksh.1 billion mark for the first time taking the subscription to a quarter of the way through the ambitious State target of Ksh.4 billion in the medium term.

At the same time, the issue has attracted 51,461 new accounts during its trading period between August 19 and September 6, 2019.

Interest payments to the bond holders, which are cleared on a semi-annual basis, have meanwhile gone up to a net total of Ksh.98.6 million with the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) paying out an additional Ksh.31.4 million to investors on Monday.

“It is exciting for us to see the impressive growth of M-Akiba as we witness it cross the Ksh.1billion mark. We continue to honor our promise to our customers by offering them an efficient investment platform; as illustrated by the payouts made to customers,” noted NSE Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Odundo.

M-Akiba is set for a fourth-reopening in October as the government continues to leverage on the innovative capital market tool to raise domestic debt.