Azerbaijan’s leading microfinance organization, FINCA Azerbaijan, launched last week a fourth placement of 3 million AZN-worth interest-bearing, unsecured, non-documentary registered bonds.
The total placement at the Baku Stock Exchange (BSE) consisted of 30,000 bonds with a value of 100 AZN each and a 12.5% coupon rate for 2 years with quarterly payment frequency of the coupon rate.
AzFinance Investment Company CJSC and UniCapital Investment Company are the underwriters for the placement so any company or entity interested to invest in bond instruments can apply to them.
A leader in responsible finance, serving small businesses across Azerbaijan with loan products to promote profitable business activity, FINCA, which has been in the country for the last 25 years, successfully raised 12 million AZN from local investors in four issuances over the last two years.
Announcing their ambitious plans to increase FINCA’s network to serve more people in the rural areas of Azerbaijan with their microfinance products, the company expects to access the local bond market to fund its growth over the next years.
FINCA’s big focus currently is on supporting rural entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of the agricultural sector in the local economy and in the growth of the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan.
As Timothy Tarrant, FINCA Azerbaijan CEO, highlighted, the placement of these bonds is intended to do that. They’ll help the company’s growth and will eventually help the growth of FINCA’s clients and the general market.
At the same time, these bonds also help increase access to finance for low-income groups of Azerbaijan’s population – especially in rural areas – to improve their businesses.
During 2022, FINCA Azerbaijan managed to achieve 33% growth, increasing the number of clients from 19,220 to 25,517, whereas the microfinance organization’s loan sales grew by 39%, surpassing 50 million AZN in its NBCO loan portfolio.
To support small entrepreneurs and household business owners, FINCA also disbursed 63 million AZN microloans.
FINCA Azerbaijan is part of FINCA Impact Finance’s global network of 16 banks and microfinance institutions, reaching more than 2.8 million clients in five continents.
