RMB launches Intengo, a digital marketplace for debt instruments in SA

• Intengo to transform liquidity in the corporate bond market
• First to offer online auctions
• Aspen raises over R400m

RMB today announced the launch of Intengo, a more liquid and transparent digital marketplace for the issuance and investment of listed and unlisted corporate debt instruments in South Africa.

Originally incubated by RMB, Intengo is now available to investment grade corporates who want to raise funding from the debt capital markets and in the next phase will be available to investors who want to invest in these instruments.

Aspen Pharmacare was the first corporate to utilise the Intengo marketplace by raising R410 million in a recent bond auction.

Emrie Brown, Head of Banking Division at RMB, said Intengo’s goal was to provide our corporate and institutional clients that participate in fixed income auctions with a seamless experience that offers issuers real time insights into the auction process.

“Intengo will augment both the origination capabilities as well as the investment opportunities for our issuers and investors as clients in the primary and secondary market.

“By streamlining the processes and providing market transparency, Intengo aims to attract more corporate issuers to utilise the debt capital markets to raise funding. Also, the upcoming secondary marketplace module, will assist investors with more accurate price discovery, resulting in deeper pools of liquidity.”

In South Africa, the market infrastructure for the issuance, clearing, settlement and trading of corporate debt securities is characterised by complex manual processes and increasingly dated technology.

“Unlike our equity and government bond markets which have deep pools of liquidity and provide accurate price discovery, the South African corporate debt capital market is illiquid and is not conducive to accurate price discovery. Nor is it transparent as it should be.”

She noted that this has resulted in operational inefficiencies and high costs for participants, which has resulted in pedestrian growth of the corporate bond market.

Michael Shuttleworth, Group Executive: Treasury from Aspen Pharmacare said of the company’s recent capital raise on Intengo: “The process was quicker and offered more transparency than previous bonds issued. It allowed us to track the progress of the auction in real-time, and ultimately secure market-related prices.”

Intengo is the first and only marketplace in South Africa that is a single hub allowing users to issue debt instruments through online auctions, offer market transparency and insights, and enable deal settlement and acting as a document repository.