ALCB Fund Backs UsPlus with ZAR 50 Million (Approx. $2.75M USD) Follow-On Social Bond

LONDON — The African Local Currency Bond Fund (ALCB Fund) has executed a ZAR 50 million (approx. $2.75 million) follow-on investment in UsPlus Limited, backing a 4-year senior unsecured social bond issued under the fintech’s ZAR 1 billion note programme.

The notes are officially listed on the Sustainability segment of the JSE Limited. This transaction represents the ALCB Fund’s second deployment into UsPlus, following an initial ZAR 40 million commitment in 2024 that helped establish the firm as a debut thematic issuer on the public market.

Structuring Local-Currency Impact and ZARONIA Adoption

Beyond expanding MSME credit access, the transaction marks a significant technical milestone for South Africa’s domestic debt capital markets by referencing ZARONIA, the emerging local interest rate benchmark replacing JIBAR.

The transaction is structured as Sustainability Use of Proceeds Bonds with independent verification from IBIS ESG Consulting Africa, ensuring capital is strictly earmarked for high-impact social assets. Consequently, liquidity is funneled directly into invoice discounting, factoring, and purchase order financing, prioritizing Black-owned, women-owned, and youth-owned enterprises.

"This follow-on transaction shows how anchor investment can help build a durable local-currency funding platform, enabling UsPlus to broaden working-capital access for MSMEs while supporting employment, inclusion and South Africa’s thematic bond market," noted Brock Hoback, Fund Lead at the ALCB Fund.

Managed by Cygnum Capital and originally established by KfW on behalf of Germany’s BMZ, the ALCB Fund continues to use anchor commitments to eliminate foreign-exchange friction and build deep, local-currency liquidity pools across frontier markets.

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