Kazakhstan to investigate bond acquisition from collapsing Azerbaijani bank

Kazakhstan’s central bank will investigate the acquisition by the state-managed pension fund of $250 million worth of bonds in the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) after the lender announced it would not repay some of its debts in full, Reuters reports. The state-owned bank, Azerbaijan’s largest, has suspended payments on some liabilities and is seeking support from creditors to restructure more than $3 billion of debt.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has been informed of the situation, the Kazakh central bank said. Net assets of the state pension fund of Kazakhstan, were at 6.8 trillion tenge ($22 billion) as of April 1.

Around 9 percent were invested into non-Kazakhstan sovereign debt papers, with some 3 percent of that exposure to nonKazakh private companies’ papers such as bonds. Some debt holders voiced anger on Wednesday after a meeting with Azeri officials in London at which they were told some would have to suffer losses under the restructuring plan.

According to the restructuring proposal, IBA creditors have three options: the first involves swapping the debt into sovereign bonds with a 12-year maturity but amortising in three annual instalments in years 10, 11 and 12. These would carry a 5.125 percent rate and with an “enhancement value” – or haircut – priced at 20 cents in the dollar. The second option involved a one-on-one swap into 15-year 3.5 percent sovereign bonds, while the third option is to stay with IBA, with bonds exchanged at par for a 7-year 3.5 percent issue.