GetBucks bullish on bond

16 Jul, 2017 - 00:07 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Business Reporter
LISTED deposit-taking microfinance firm GetBucks is confident the second tranche of its bond listing, which opened in May to raise US$15 million, will be well received.

GetBucks MD Mrs Mercy Murevesi told The Sunday Mail Business that, “The response so far is quite good, most companies have bureaucratic structures and may take long to conclude, but the interest is there.

“Others have a tendency of doing a last minute rush and want to subscribe on the day it closes. We will confirm the actual uptake when it closes,” she said.

A bond is a debt obligation that allows companies or Government to raise capital at a fixed interest rate. The GetBucks bond, whose first tranche raised US$5,4 million in April, becomes the first to trade publicly in Zimbabwe in nearly two decades, and is the second opening in a phased US$30 million capital raising drive.

The bond has a three-year tenure and a yield of 10,25 percent. Proceeds will be used to fund the burgeoning SMEs sector, which some estimates say employs 80 percent of the employable population in Southern Africa.

A 2014 Finscope Survey estimates that as at 2014, only 23 percent of Zimbabwe’s adult population was financially included.

The survey also said informal sources of credit catered for 30 percent of borrowing.

Mrs Murevesi said: “SMEs are playing a crucial role in the economy right now. But their biggest challenge is funding. We want to bridge that gap by providing affordable funding to this sector so that they can grow into huge corporate.”

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