NUR-SULTAN

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) issued the first-ever local-currency bonds in Kazakhstan linked to the new tenge overnight index average rate, or Tonia in a move to support the development of the local capital market in the Central Asian country.

The three-year bonds worth 12.5 billion tenge ($28.8 million) were auctioned at full issue price on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). Tengri Partners, a Central Asia-based merchant banking group, acted as an arranger, the EBRD said in a press release.

The three-year bonds pay a flat (zero-spread) coupon of the TONIA risk-free rate, calculated using the TONIA Compounded Index (TCI).

The TONIA and TCI were developed by the KASE, with the assistance of the Money Market Working Group, comprising Kazakhstan’s National Bank, the EBRD and the country’s leading financial institutions following international best practices. The KASE publishes the rate and index.

TONIA is a robust benchmark, anchored in the liquid overnight tenge repurchase agreement (repo) market. In line with market practices for indexing transactions to similar overnight risk-free rates in other currencies, TONIA will be compounded daily and the compounded rate is then calculated at the end of each interest period. Using the TCI simplifies calculations and reduces the risk of operational error.

“The TONIA rate is an important component of the debt market of Kazakhstan, used for constructing the yield curve of government bonds. This benchmark is a reliable, representative and transparent indicator for participants in the local financial market,” KASE Deputy Chair Natalya Khoroshevskaya said. “This bond issue is a recognition of TONIA’s reliability as the main money-market indicator in Kazakhstan. KASE is planning to continue implementing necessary measures to develop the debt market and improve its benchmarks.”

“This landmark transaction will stimulate the development of the local-currency market in the country. We also plan to use TONIA as the EBRD benchmark rate in our KZT lending. Bond issues of this kind from an AAA-lender such as the EBRD will improve the portfolio quality of any investor in Kazakhstan,” Huseyin Ozhan, EBRD Head of Kazakhstan, said in a statement.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Kazakhstan. To date, the Bank has invested more than $10.2 billion in Kazakhstan’s economy through 293 projects.