Five years after investing in the bank’s Sh2 billion corporate bond, they would now be counting down to pay day. The lender’s failure, along with that of other corporate bond issuers, including Chase Bank, cement manufacturer Athi River Mining (ARM) and microfinance company Real People, has devastated the local corporate bond market. As a result, explained the regulator, there has been little interest in corporate bonds as a debt financing instrument. Low uptakeThe regulator insisted that the green bond listing by real estate firm Acorn provided much-needed impetus to the corporate bond market. “Historically, corporate bonds are really meant to boost most of the time returns because typically, you have different asset classes and you have corporate bonds.

Source: Standard Digital October 27, 2020 06:00 UTC