KARACHI: Trading in the privately placed Rs8 billion bond of the Bank of Punjab Ltd (BoP) will commence on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, Dec 23.

Locally known as a term finance certificate (TFC), the debt instrument will contribute towards the bank’s Additional Tier 1 Capital for the capital adequacy ratio (CAR). This category of capital consists of instruments that aren’t equity but can be converted into shares in case a trigger event occurs.

The bank, which is mainly owned by the Punjab government, will use the funds in its regular business operations, the lender said in the term sheet of the issue.

The bond is perpetual in nature, which means there’s no redemption date and bondholders can liquidate their investments in the secondary market at the time of their choosing.

The investment will offer a floating rate of six-month Karachi interbank offered rate (Kibor) plus 200 basis points if the bank is compliant with CAR, minimum capital requirement (MCR) and leverage ratio (LR) at the end of a given period.

However, no profit will be paid in case the bank is non-compliant with the CAR, MCR or LR requirement at the end of the same period. Only qualified institutional buyers are allowed to trade in the TFC after its listing on the exchange.

As many as 36 companies — including banks, investment firms, pension funds, provident funds, gratuity funds, textile mills and insurance companies — participated in the issue that formally took place on June 20.

Largest investors were Arif Habib Ltd (12.4pc), Punjab Pension Fund Trust (9.9pc), Askari Bank Ltd (6.2pc), U Microfinance Bank (6.2pc), Ismail Industries Ltd (6.2pc), DJM Securities Ltd (5.9pc), Punjab General Provident Fund (4.9pc) and Jubilee Life Insurance Company Ltd (4.86pc).

The minimum size of a single tradable lot is going to be one certificate or bond having a face value of Rs100,000.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2022