THE JSE HAS approved the listing of six SA Taxi Holdings’ social bonds, valued at R900 million, on the bourse’s Sustainability Segment.
The six social bonds will have a maturity of between one and 10 years.
SA Taxi Holdings, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Transaction Capital, has indicated it would use the proceeds from the social bonds to finance economic development, support social inclusion, hire inclusively and promote climate resilience.
SA Taxi, a vertically integrated minibus taxi platform, mainly finances minibus taxi entrepreneurs, who operate minibus taxis, but who may not have access to credit from traditional banks.
Through granting of the loans, SA Taxi empowers small, micro and medium-size enterprises and promotes broad-based black economic empowerment, helping to create an inclusive and diverse economy.
There are more than 250 000 minibus taxis on the road that transport 66.5 percent of the country’s daily commuters. The industry is estimated to generate R50 billion annually and spends about R20bn a year on fuel.
“This is a positive development in the public transportation sector. This listing will promote inclusive economic growth in one of the country’s key sectors serving a crucial segment of South Africa’s workforce,” said JSE head of origin and deals Sam Mokorosi.
The JSE launched the Sustainability Segment in June last year with the aim of providing a platform for companies to raise debt for green, social and sustainable initiatives.
The segment makes it accessible and easier for companies to list and trade sustainability-related instruments to raise funds for activities directed at sustainable development.
Transaction Capital made a strong recovery in the six months to March 31, 2021, compared with the period to March 31, 2019, with core headline earnings a share from continuing operations up by 43 percent to 65.5 cents.
The group was confident about its prospects. The board said the robust interim earnings recovery supported their view that the group would return to its strong organic growth trend this year, with “high-quality earnings and dividend growth” over the medium term.
Transaction capital’s share price was down 1.26 percent to R37.47 yesterday morning, but the price is more than a 100 percent up over a year.
The group capital adequacy ratio stood at a healthy 20.9 percent in the year to end September 2020.
The group could not be reached for further comment yesterday.
SA Taxi said in its recently launched Sustainability Bond Framework that it would prepare and publish annual impact and allocation reporting with respect to the funding under this framework, and that the report would be made available on the group’s website.
BUSINESS REPORT