Belt and Road Market Segment
The key differentiator to leverage the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
The Belt and Road Initiative is a global initiative with the participation of more than 70 countries that focusing on connectivity and infrastructure development, it was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit in Kazakhstan in 2013.
Kazakhstan plays an important role under the BRI as two out of six economic corridors pass through Kazakhstan. The BRI also provides opportunities to Kazakhstan as well as all participating countries to develop infrastructure, improve connectivity as well as increase manufacturing capacity and international trade volume, thus stimulating the overall development of the economies.
One of the key objectives of AIX is to become the first stock exchange in Central Asia to provide an access to global investors, as well as to become the regional financing hub by providing market-oriented, diversified, localized and sustainable financing solutions to support the BRI. The AIX Belt and Road Market Segment aims to provide capital market solutions for projects under the BRI, additionally, as an ideal exit platform to attract more private equity investments to the BRI projects. The RMB will be the preferred currency for AIX Belt and Road Market, which common shares, bonds, asset-backed securities and depositary receipts can be listed and traded.
To meet the growing investment and financing demand for RMB raising from BRI, AIFC has started the offshore RMB market development to become the regional RMB Settlement and Clearing Centre, which AIX Belt and Road Market is the key part. The AIX Belt and Road market will be focusing on supporting the BRI projects as well as other projects aligned with AIX Belt and Market Rules, which have been widely supported by development banks, commercial banks, investment banks, private equity investment funds from China as well as top market intermediaries from China and Kazakhstan, such as law firms, audits firms and credit rating agencies.
The first RMB-denominated bonds in Kazakhstan
On March 20th 2020, China Construction Bank acting through CCB Astana Branch dual listed its RMB-denominated bonds in AIX and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It was the first RMB bond on AIX which was also the first RMB product of the AIX Belt and Road Market. The bond, in the amount of 1 billion CNY (about 63 bln KZT according to the currency rate of NBK for the day of listing), is denominated in RMB (Chinese Yuan) with 2-year maturity and 2.95% coupon rate. The RMB Bonds were purchased by institutional investors from China. CCB Astana Branch will use raised RMB funds to support BRI and infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan.
Please contact AIX Belt and Road Market Department by email [email protected] for additional information!