Cross-listing of Unibank bonds on the Moscow Exchange was recognized as the best deal in Armenia

The XVII Bond Congress of the CIS and the Baltic States Cbonds Awards CIS – ‪2021 took place in St‬ Petersburg, where the cross-listing of bonds of Unibank OJSC was recognized as the best deal in Armenia. Unibank’s dollar bonds passed a secondary listing on the Moscow Exchange in 2020. The cross-listing procedure was carried out with the participation and assistance of the Armenia Securities Exchange (AMX) and the Moscow Exchange (MOEX).

On July 14 this year, another issue of Unibank dollar bonds was admitted to trading on the Moscow Exchange. Coupon rate – 5.3% per annum.

Thanks to the cross-listing, the Russian investors purchase Unibank bonds without opening a bank and securities account in Armenia. In order to purchase bonds of the Armenian bank, it is sufficient for individuals and legal entities to have an account with the National Settlement Depository or with a custodian in Russia. The maintenance of the prices for the purchase and sale of bonds at the auction is carried out by GX2 Invest.

“Cross-listing allowed Russian investors to purchase bonds of an Armenian bank without having to open an account in Armenia. Cbonds supports innovations in the bond market and hopes that similar deals will be carried out in the future too, helping to increase the popularity of financial instruments from Armenia and other CIS countries in the Russian market. Congratulations to the participants in the transaction! ”- said Elena Avdonicheva, Head of the Russian and CIS Debt Markets Department, Cbonds Group.

“Such a prestigious professional award confirms the importance of our bonds entering the Russian market. Having become pioneers in this direction among the banks of Armenia, we familiarized Russian investors with a new profitable product and, as the results show, interested them in a profitable offer. On behalf of our team, I express my gratitude to the organizers of the congress for their attention to our achievements. We are grateful for the well-coordinated work of my colleagues from the Armenian and Moscow stock exchanges: our joint efforts made it possible to take a significant step in the development of international cooperation in the bond market,” commented Mesrop Hakobyan, CEO of Unibank.

“The collaboration with the Central Securities Depository of Armenia (CDA) on the development and improvement of technologies for interaction between NSD and the CDA enabled us to start accepting securities of Armenian issuers for servicing and to carry out their cross-listing on the Moscow Exchange in a short period of time. We are glad that the implemented project was highly appreciated both by the experts and by the market participants,” said Denis Buryakov, Managing Director for Depository Activities at NSD.

The purchase of such securities enables private investors to reduce the risks of the portfolio and increase the profitability of its foreign currency portion. The bonds of individuals are covered by insurance from the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Armenia – an analogue of the Russian DIA.

“This is an excellent opportunity to increase the turnover of securities, attract investments from the Russian market through cross-listing, as well as increase the recognition of issuing companies at the international level in general. The capital market in Armenia is continuously evolving, as evidenced by technological modernization, exchange trading dynamics and listing growth. As it was anticipated, the bonds of Unibank turned out to be very appealing for the Moscow Exchange, which discloses confidence in the bank,” said Hayk Yeganyan, CEO of the Armenia Securities Exchange.

“Armenia has a huge potential to develop, which is facilitated by an auspicious legal environment, constant innovations in the depository system, and the availability of accumulative pension funds. CDA continues its strategy of facilitating the investors’ and market participants’ access to depository services. We are open for cooperation and are ready to demonstrate to interested financial institutions and investors the attractiveness and technological capabilities of our market,” said Vahan Stepanyan, CEO of the Central Securities Depository of Armenia.

The capitalization of the exchange market of corporate bonds tripled in Armenia in 2018-2020. The volume of exchange trading in 2020 increased by more than 6%, while the number of transactions by 54%. The main volumes of bonds are issued by banks and other financial institutions.