HARARE- Micro lender, Getbucks Zimbabwe has announced a proposed capital raise of an undisclosed amount which if successful may have a material impact on the company’s share price. The ZSE listed deposit taking micro finance bank has previously raised capital for purposes of funding its lending activities. In 2017 the bank raised $5.3 million through a debut bond issue on the ZSE, which was a first after the bond market had collapsed 2 decades earlier. The $5.3 million raised was part of a phased $30 million bond issue capital raise earmarked for mainly financing of small scale businesses. Subsequent raises have however not been as successful as the bank reported that market appetite was low given the volatility in the environment. Inflation and exchange rate losses over the last 8 months has reduced the allure of monetary assets whose adjusted return at prevailing rates, are in the negative. Inflation is at 66.8% year on year while the exchange rate has weakened by 30% since the consummation of the interbank market. Although these capital raises were of note, the planned capital raise may not be in the form of debt but equity. An equity capital raise involves the issuance of additional shares to existing shareholders in exchange of cash. This capital raise may be necessitated by the pending move towards commercialisation of the micro entity as the bank aggresses. Equity Axis has it on good authority that the bank intends to go commercial in the next few months and may have fully converted to a commercial bank by 2020. The RBZ has however set a 2020 capitalisation target of $100 million for commercial banks which most existing commercial banks have not yet met with under 1 financial year to go. Getbucks had a ready capital base of $20 million as at December 2019 which is $80 million off the required capital levels of a commercial banking operation in Zimbabwe. However the bank has a deep pocketed shareholder in Gebucks Limited which has presence in various African markets. In 2017, Brainworks which was the second largest shareholder trimmed its shareholding in the microlender.