NAIROBI: State-run Consolidated Bank of Kenya will issue a 4 billion shilling ($47.8 million) medium-term corporate bond, market regulator Capital Markets Authority (CMA) said on Friday.
Although the east African nation's debt market has boomed in recent years as investors searched for higher yields, corporate issuance has lagged behind government bonds, with only seven outstanding corporate bonds issued on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
CMA said it had approved the issuance plan by Consolidated.
"The approval will enable the lender to recapitalise and support growth of customer deposits and its loan book," the regulator said in a statement.
CMA did not give any more details on the bond.
Funding costs for banks have shot up since late last year after policymakers adopted a hawkish stance to fight inflation and prop up the currency.
Consolidated is among a host of government-owned enterprises that are up for sale, part of a privatisation programme, ahead of eventual listing of its shares on the bourse.
The privatisation process has been held up since the expiry of the term of the board of the country's privatisation commission earlier this year. A new board is being re-constituted, a senior government official told Reuters.
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