Mahwi Grain Millers PLC, on September 2, listed its first corporate bond worth Rwf5 billion on Rwanda Stock Exchange.

The issuance was announced on August 9, following the approval of Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and closed on August 23. It will, henceforth, be traded on RSE to a secondary market.

This means that subscribers or initial buyers of the bond will be able to trade their investment portions with other interested parties.

The firm has planned to issue its bond offer in two tranches. The first tranche will be worth Rwf3 billion with a tenor of five years. The second tranche will be worth Rwf2 billion and the tenor will be determined at a later stage.

The company’s debt security has a fixed interest rate of 15 per cent per annum payable semi-annually.

Chantal Habiyakare, Chairperson of Mahwi Grain Millers said that it has been a journey of nine years to reach this point of raising capital on stock market as an SME, which wasn’t easy in terms of convincing investors but was worth it.

“The food industry has never failed and we are ready to invest money where it should be. Doing this as an SME demonstrates that it can be done. I invite everyone to also invest in the next tranche, we still have room to bring in more money,” she said.

According to the issuer, proceeds from the first phase will primarily support grain maize aggregation. Approximately Rwf2.5 billion will be allocated as working capital to purchase maize grains during the season, while Rwf500 million will be used to meet creditor obligations.

Proceeds from the second phase will mainly cover acquisition of equipment and related construction activities, with Rwf1 billion set aside for financing animal feed machinery equipment, Rwf600 million for purchase of silos for maize grains storage, and Rwf400 million for animal feed factory building.

Mahwi Grain Millers is a producer of three main products, including refined maize flour for the mass market, fortified maize flour for school feeding and maize flour for high-end consumers and the export market.

It has established processing lines with a production capacity of 250 tonnes daily.

Pierre-Célestin Rwabukumba, RSE Chief Executive, noted that this listing is a testament of Rwanda’s capital market and stands to demystify the misperception that the stock market is for sophisticated companies.

“After looking at Mahwi Grain Millers operations, the story behind, and the numbers, and further scrutiny, the company joined the investment clinic patiently, went through legal advisory process and reached a point of raising capital on the market,” he explained.

Additionally, this is the second company to graduate from investment clinic and first one in agroprocessing to list on stock market.

In 2023, Mahwi Grain Millers, based in Bugesera, qualified for the RSE Investment Clinic and ultimately embarked on the listing journey.

The capital that it is raising will enable it to scale up its aggregation system and expand its investments by establishing a high-yield animal feed production plant.

This investment expansion is planned for early 2025, according to the officials.