The local bourse, Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) last week announced the listing of the African Domestic Bond Fund (“ADBF”) structured as an Exchange Traded Fund (“ETF”).
According to the BSE, MCB Investment Management Co. Ltd, working in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) launched the African Domestic Bond Fund, domiciled in Mauritius, that provides access to local currency African fixed income markets in a cost efficient, liquid and transparent manner. The AfDB acts as an anchor investor and sponsor, with a view to promote local currency finance and contribute to the development of local currency capital markets across the African continent.
The ADBF ETF tracks the performance of the AfDB Bloomberg African Bond Index 25% Capped, before fees and expenses and is primary listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius denominated in USD and the secondary listing on the BSE will be denominated in BWP. Commenting on this milestone, the BSE CEO, Mr. Thapelo Tsheole, “expressed gratitude to the MCB and AfDB teams for choosing to list this product on the BSE. This goes to show that our strategic objective of growing the number of instruments and the diversity of our issuer base is bearing fruit. We recognize the hard work and dedication by the various teams involved in this listing across Africa as we welcome this product on the BSE”.
The ADBF was first conceived as part of the African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI), dating back to 2008. Its objectives are to contribute to the development of local debt markets in Africa, by strengthening the domestic bond market infrastructure and investing in local currency-denominated debts. The AFMI’s activities are implemented through its two pillars which are the African Financial Markets Database (AFMD) and the African Domestic Bond Fund (ADBF).
