(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Shelter Afrique plans to raise $500 million (KES 64.83 billion / GBP 383 million) through a sustainability-linked bond for East Africa in the first quarter of 2027, with the largest portion to be listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The pan-African housing development bank will issue the multi-currency bond across four markets: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. A sustainability-linked bond ties the issuer’s financial or structural terms to whether it meets specific environmental, social or governance targets.
“We are in the space of mobilising resources from our local markets. We are currently in the market in West Africa where we are issuing about 60 billion CFA francs in the monetary union to finance housing projects in local currency,” Shelter Afrique managing director and chief executive Thierno-Habib Hann said at the second Bullish Africa Summit in New York.
“We plan to go to market and issue $500 million worth of local currency sustainability linked bond in East Africa in early 2027 and we are targeting four markets: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.”
The Nairobi Securities Exchange will host the bulk of the issue, reflecting the size and depth of liquidity in the Kenyan market, according to the chief executive.
Shelter Afrique has previously said proceeds from the bonds will be invested in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. The institution holds housing projects and investments in mortgage refinance companies in several African markets.
The development bank last issued a bond in Kenya in 2013, a five-year note of KES 5 billion ($38.5 million / GBP 29.6 million) priced at an interest rate of 12.75%.
Shelter Afrique said the West and East Africa bonds are structured to protect housing projects in both regions from foreign currency risk linked to borrowing in hard currency.
“One major risk is currency risk, and that is why we must mobilise resources through our local markets. You can have an amazing project that offers you huge returns, but if your local currency depreciates over the life of the project, that can really eat into your return and potentially push the project to default,” Mr Hann said.
Foreign currency risk in debt arises when a borrower takes a loan in a currency different from the home currency, meaning a fall in the value of the local currency makes repayment harder. Shelter Afrique closed 2025 with an asset base of $234.82 million (KES 30.44 billion / GBP 180 million), of which $174.08 million (KES 22.57 billion / GBP 133 million) was loans disbursed to customers, up from $134.7 million (KES 17.46 billion / GBP 103 million) a year earlier.
The development bank has 44 member countries. Nigeria is the largest shareholder with a 17.01% stake, Kenya holds 15.81%, while the African Development Bank and the African Reinsurance Corporation hold 11.41% and 3.39% respectively.