Sh10m left in M-Akiba pilot offer

Launched as a bridge for small scale investors to invest in government securities, the M-Akiba bond subscription now stands at 93 percent with three days left to achieve its set target of Sh150 million.

The government’s special limited offer of the M-Akiba bond that is set to close on Friday might achieve its set target earlier than expected with Sh140 million already taken up.

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) chief executive officer Geoffrey Odundo said on Tuesday that there had been an increased uptake of the bond as it heads to its closure.

“I believe our experience with IPOs is as we come closer to the last day, I am pretty confident we should close well,” Mr Odundo told Citizen Digital.

And the numbers in the bond make for an interesting read.

Two weeks since it was launched, over 100,000 investors have shown interest in the government bond.

Out of this only 5,000 have actually invested with initial data showing that the average bid per investor stood at Sh17,000.

The M-Akiba bond enables investors to buy government securities for as little as Sh3,000 without the extra hustle of having to go through intermediaries.

“What surprises us is that people are willing to put more. With this kind of average, people are looking at this as a good investment opportunity,” said Mr. Odundo.

The pilot program has already given involved parties key lessons ahead of the launch of the Sh4.85 billion bond in June.

For starters, the players have had to expand the platform after a flurry of interest on the first day saw the system crash.

Mr Odundo said, with the lessons learnt, the Treasury, NSE and the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation would engage in a country wide promotion drive to sign up more investors.

“I will not be surprised if these over 100,000 people come during the bigger launch. With the more education we put against this product, more discussions around it, the success of the product will elicit some interest even to those already registered,” he said.