Housing Finance of Kenya Secures Approval to Sell $123.4 Million of Bonds

Housing Finance Ltd., Kenya’s only publicly traded mortgage company, received regulatory approval for a 10 billion-shilling ($123.4 million) bond, Managing Director Frank Ireri said.

The pricing and maturity period of the securities will be announced in the “coming weeks,” he said in an e-mailed statement today. The bond is part of a program to source long- term funding to increase mortgages and property financing it issues its customers.

The East African country’s urban areas need 150,000 housing units a year compared with the 35,000 produced at the moment, resulting in overcrowding and informal settlements, he said. Kenya’s population rose by a third to 38.6 million in the 10 years to 2009, according to Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya.

“We shall be playing an indirect role in the supply of these additional units by financing project developers,” Ireri said. “The funds raised will not go towards the institutions’ capital but will form part of debt funding.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at eombok@bloomberg.net

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