ArmInfo. On September 12 the AMX opening bell rang for Converse Bank's bonds listed (AMCOVSB28ER6 and AMCOVSB29ER4) on the Abond list of the securities exchange, the press service of Armenia Securities Exchange reports.
The total volume of AMD-denominated bonds was 1 billion AMD that was issued with 9.75% coupon yield and 36 month-maturity period. The bank will make payments semiannually.
USD-denominated bonds were issued with USD10 million total volume, 3-year maturity period and 5.5% coupon yield. The bank will make payments of coupons once a semester.
"Last few years Converse Bank issued and allocated over 22 billion AMD corporate bonds in three denominations, that have so far captured interest from both institutional and individual clients. In this respect, Converse Bank is one of the leaders and in future the bank will continue making new allocations," said Artur Hakobyan, CEO, Chairman of Executive Management, Converse Bank.
Currently, these tranches are the 3rd ongoing USD-denominated and 2nd AMD-denominated bond listings.
Welcoming Converse Bank's effective cooperation with AMX Armenia Securities Exchange, Hayk Yeganyan, CEO, Armenia Securities Exchange, said, "The active involvement of Converse Bank and other partners show that raising capital with debt instruments benefits the private sector. Corporate bonds help our partners expand their activities, and as a result, everyone wins - individuals, institutional investors and issuers, as compared with bank deposits and loans."
Compared to the same period of last year there is an increase of 20% in the number of listed/admitted corporate bonds. The number of trades has surged by 18% and the volume of trades by 36%, reaching 33 million dollars from previous year's 24 million dollars.
Converse Bank is a member of Armenia Securities Exchange since 2008. The bank is also a regulated market settlement system member, depository system account operator and pension system account operator.
As of September 13, 2019, 6 issues of Converse Bank bonds are quoted on the Armenian AMX stock exchange. These are 3 dollar tranches in the total volume of $ 24 million, 2 drams in the amount of 4 billion drams, and one euro for 5 million euros. All of these issues are on the Abond main list. Coupon payments for these issues are made once every six months. The yield of dollar issues since the first tranche (from May 5, 2017) for the current listing has decreased from 5.75% to 5.5%, and dram - from August 2017 10.5% to the current 9.75%. Of the Converse Bank bond issues already quoted on the exchange, $ 1 will be repaid in 2019 for $ 4 million on October 16 (yield 5.25%). The redemption of the remaining three issues (dram, dollar and euro) will take place in 2021 - April 26.
According to the Financial Ranking of the Banks of Armenia as of January 1, 2019, prepared by ArmInfo IC, Converse Bank raised 16.7 billion drams ($ 34.4 million) from the placement of its own bonds with YOY growth of 2.8 fold. Converse Bank takes the 4th position in terms of the volume of borrowings from the placement of its own bonds, and in the 1st position in the YOY growth of this indicator. Assets of Converse Bank as of this date amounted to 281.1 billion drams, liabilities - 242.03 billion drams, total capital - 39.1 billion drams. Converse Bank completed the year 2018 with a net profit of 4.9 billion drams, exceeding the level of the previous year by 37.7%.
It should be noted that Converse Bank has been operating in the Armenian market since September 1996. As of January 1, 2019, the shareholders of the Bank are Advanced Global Investments LLC (led by Eduardo Ernekyan) - 80.94%, HayPost Trust Management B.V. - 14.06%; Cathedral of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin - 5%.
