Kazakhstan expands yuan bond market presence with second panda bond sale

September 23, 2026 at 09:00 AM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Kazakhstan has completed a second sovereign panda bond sale, building on its debut issuance in May. The Ministry of Finance said the yuan borrowing cost is comparable to that of sovereign issuers with higher credit ratings. The sale follows S&P Global Ratings' upgrade of Kazakhstan to BBB with a stable outlook.

Key Facts

Kazakhstan's two sovereign panda bond issues provided financing of 10 billion yuan, or about $1.5 billion.
The debut three-year panda bond in May raised 3.4 billion yuan at a coupon yield of 1.9%.
The latest three-year issue was priced eight basis points lower than the debut.
S&P Global Ratings upgraded Kazakhstan from BBB- to BBB with a stable outlook before the bond sale.
CICC described the sovereign issue as the largest yuan bond placement by a Central Asian borrower.

Panda Bond Issuance

Kazakhstan returned to the Chinese market with sovereign bonds shortly after its debut panda bond placement of 3.4 billion yuan in May. The first three-year issue had a coupon yield of 1.9%, attracting twice as many bids from Chinese institutional investors. The latest three-year issue was priced eight basis points lower than the debut, according to FinanceAsia. China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC) acted as lead underwriter and called it the largest yuan bond placement by a Central Asian borrower.

Market Access and Pricing

The Ministry of Finance said the cost of money in yuan is comparable to that for sovereign issuers with higher credit ratings than Kazakhstan. The second placement was made under Kazakhstan's existing two-year registration with China's National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors. Asel Tolegen, director of corporate finance at Teniz Capital Investment Banking, said a repeat issue under the existing registration can be completed within weeks. The investor base interested in Kazakh yuan bonds has expanded significantly thanks to market participants from the first sovereign panda bond placement.