Azerbaijan’s leading corporate and investment bank, Pasha Bank, is acting as the sole arranger and advisor for the inaugural AZN-denominated bond issuance by Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB), the Pasha said in a press release on July 29.

The issue will be the first local bond transaction from an international financial institution in the history of Azerbaijan’s capital markets. The initial investor interest significantly exceeds the intended size of the transaction.

The BSTDB bond issue will be priced on August 1 through an open auction. The terms of the issue are as follows:

Total volume: 10,000,000 AZN

Coupon (annual): 9.25%

Coupon payments: quarterly

Nominal value of a single bond: 1,000 AZN

Pasha Bank is the largest private bank in Azerbaijan by total equity. It is owned equally by the two daughters of the president of the country, Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva.

With assets in banking, insurance, real estate, construction, tourism and hotel businesses among other assets in the holdings, Pasha Group is one of the biggest investors in the country and worth billions of dollars, according to a report by Open Azerbaijan and the bank’s filings with the authorities in Turkey, where it has a subsidiary.

From its strong position Pasha Bank has been a pioneer in innovation on the Azerbaijani market and its investment banking division has been working to introduce new products and services that cover debt and equity capital raising solutions, mergers & acquisitions advisory services, syndicated lending arrangements as well as credit rating advisory services.

BSTDB is an international financial institution established by 11 member countries including Azerbaijan. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional co-operation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorised capital of the bank is €3.45bn. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s.