The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has listed Africa’s first Nature-Linked Performance-Based Bond, marking a new chapter in sustainable financing on the continent.
The FirstRand Bank Cape Water Performance-Based Bond, known as FR31PB, is part of a broader transaction structure supporting The Nature Conservancy South Africa, a nonprofit organisation, in restoring priority water catchment areas by removing invasive plant species, which increases water flows into storage dams.
The R2.5 billion bond links part of investors’ returns to independently verified ecological restoration, advancing the role capital markets play in supporting nature and water security. 
FirstRand Group Treasurer Bhulesh Singh said the bond was designed to make nature an investable asset class and build a natural capital market in South Africa.
“One of our key objectives was to make nature an investable asset class and build a natural capital market in South Africa that accommodates diverse participants, crowding in new pools of both local and international investors, alongside additional outcomes-based funders, and aligning the interests of all stakeholders in the value chain,” Singh said.
He added that the group’s corporate and investment bank, RMB, was instrumental in structuring and executing the transaction, with the FirstRand Foundation serving as an anchor outcomes-based funder and coordinator for philanthropic partners.
“This bond represents another significant milestone in the longstanding partnership between FirstRand and the IFC. The IFC’s investment was essential to achieve the target bond size, enabling the overall transaction. We are also pleased to have collaborated with FSD Africa, an African DFI, in their first South African listed debt capital markets investment,” Singh said.
JSE Head of Trading Helina Andhee said linking investor returns to verified ecological outcomes shows how listed instruments can finance nature-based solutions.
“This bond illustrates how capital markets can align financial performance with measurable environmental impact,” Andhee said.
She added that the listing offers investors a market-based mechanism to support an environmental project that mitigates climate-related water risk while aligning returns with long-term water security outcomes.
Strategic Water Source Areas make up about 10% of South Africa’s land but supply 60% of its water and support two thirds of its economic activity, a fact that points to the importance of continued investment in these areas.
The bond brings together FirstRand Bank as issuer and RMB as arranger and structurer, alongside a coalition of local and international investors and philanthropic funders. The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, FSD Africa Investments and Aluwani Capital Partners have acted as co-anchor investors, with South African asset managers and pension funds also participating.
