Trading in foreign-currency bonds began on the Republican Stock Exchange “Toshkent” on September 28, the exchange’s press service reported.
The exchange’s quotation list includes foreign-currency-denominated bonds issued by two issuers — Asia Alliance Bank and Universalbank. The total volume of the issues is $30 million.
Asia Alliance Bank became the first issuer in Uzbekistan to register a foreign-currency corporate bond issue on September 10. The bank will place 200,000 securities with a nominal value of $100 each.
The bonds will trade on the exchange under the ticker AAB1B3U for 1,095 days (three years). The coupon rate is 7% per year, with coupon payments made quarterly.
Universalbank issued 100,000 foreign-currency bonds, each with a nominal value of $100. They are listed on the Tashkent Stock Exchange under the ticker UNVB1B2U.
The bonds carry an annual coupon rate of 8.5%, with quarterly payments. The maturity period is 730 days (two years).
In April, the National Agency of Perspective Projects approved regulations governing the circulation of foreign-currency bonds in Uzbekistan. The document regulates the issuance, placement, trading and redemption of foreign-currency bonds under the capital market “sandbox”.
A company may have foreign-currency bonds worth no more than $50 million outstanding at any one time. Unsecured bonds may be issued only within the issuer’s equity capital. If this limit is exceeded, the company — except for certain banks with high credit ratings — must provide collateral for the amount exceeding the threshold.
Collateral for the bonds may include real estate, cash, bank guarantees or insurance policies. Real estate must be appraised at market value and may be accepted as collateral for no more than 75% of the issue’s appraised value. At the same time, real estate may not account for more than 50% of the total collateral.
The regulations also establish financial conditions, or covenants, for the issuance of foreign-currency bonds. In addition, they require individuals to purchase foreign-currency bonds only through the banking system.
The English version of this material was generated with the assistance of AI translation tools and may differ slightly from the original text.
