Corporate bonds in Ukraine: how to assess an issue, tax and risks

01What it is

A corporate bond is a company's debt to you. The company issues bonds with a face value, a term and a coupon rate; you buy them, and it pays a coupon from time to time and returns the face value on the redemption date. One bond's face value is typically UAH 1,000: it is in the issue whose prospectus we read (Source: ТОВ «НоваПей Кредит», May 14, 2026), and the prices PFTS publishes sit around that amount.

In Ukraine, corporate bonds trade on stock exchanges, most of all on PFTS. At the trading session of Oct 23, 2026, the PFTS list held these corporate bonds (Source: АТ «Фондова біржа ПФТС», Oct 23, 2026):

• issues: 91, all in hryvnias;
• companies that issued them: 38.

Most of them are finance and leasing companies, with some agricultural and retail ones.

This page describes company bonds as a class. We do not recommend or rate individual companies or issues.

02What it pays now

There is no single yield for corporate bonds: each issue has its own coupon rate, term and price. The PFTS exchange publishes bond prices, not their yields. Turning a price into a yield takes the coupon schedule, and that is only in each issue's prospectus. Not every issue even has a price: at the session of Oct 23, 2026, only 13 of 91 had an official quote. So the board gives company bonds no figure, and we do not quote rates from promotional lists.

How to assess an issue yourself

1. The coupon rate and how often it is paid. Both are in the issue's prospectus. The coupon is a share of the face value, not of the price you pay.
2. The price. If the bond costs less than its face value, you also gain the difference by redemption; if more, you lose it. On the exchange you also pay the seller the coupon accrued so far.
3. The term and the put date. The redemption date and, if there is one, the put date, when the company undertakes to buy the bonds back from everyone who wants to sell. The prospectus may let the company change the coupon rate from the put date.
4. Security. A bond can be secured by a pledge or a guarantee, or unsecured. The prospectus says which. With an unsecured bond, if the company goes bankrupt you are just one of its creditors.
5. A comparison with OVDP. Take the yield of government bonds over a similar term. The gap between the two is the payment for the risk that the company does not repay. If the gap is small, the risk does not pay; if it is very large, the market most likely doubts the company.

You can work out the yield to maturity from the coupon, price and term in the bond yield calculator.

03After tax and inflation

Tax on the coupon. Ukraine taxes the coupon as interest: personal income tax of 18% and a military levy of 5%, 23% in all (Source: Верховна Рада України, Oct 12, 2026). The tax is withheld when the coupon is paid.

Tax on a sale or redemption. If you sell a bond, or it is redeemed, for more than you paid, the gain is taxed as investment profit: personal income tax of 18% and a military levy of 5%, 23% in all. The broker acts as the tax agent, but you still file an annual return. Unlike OVDP, company bonds have no tax exemption. Once martial law ends, the military levy will fall to 1.5% over time, but not at once.

Inflation and the exchange rate. Every bond on the PFTS list is in hryvnias. For your money to grow in real terms, the rate after tax has to beat Ukrainian inflation, now 10.0%. If you count in dollars, devaluation takes its share too: on the historical average the hryvnia weakened by 6.0% a year. How the board works out real returns is in the board's method.

04Who guarantees it

Nothing is guaranteed. Ukraine's Deposit Guarantee Fund repays bank deposits only and does not cover company bonds. We found no law in force that would compensate investors for a company's bankruptcy: there is only a government bill.

Whether you get your money back depends on the company alone, and on the security if the prospectus names one. If the company goes bankrupt, holders of unsecured bonds get what is left after its assets are sold, and that can take years.

05How fast you can get out

There are two ways out: wait for redemption or the put date, or sell the bond on the exchange through a broker. You can sell only if a buyer turns up, and the exchange market in company bonds is thin. This is how many issues on the PFTS list had at least one exchange trade, counting back from the session of Oct 23, 2026 (Source: АТ «Фондова біржа ПФТС», Oct 23, 2026):

• in the last month: 3;
• in the last three months: 14;
• in the last year: 29.

The list holds 91 issues in all. So expect to hold the bond to redemption or the put date, or to sell at a discount.

06Minimum amount

You can buy a single bond. The face value is typically UAH 1,000, but each issue has its own, so the board takes that one as the minimum: UAH 1,000. The prices PFTS publishes sit close to face value, but not every issue has one. On top of the price you pay the accrued coupon and the fees of the broker and the custodian.

07Main risk

The main risk is that the company misses a coupon or fails to repay. Nothing is guaranteed, so that loss falls on you.

• A thin market. Before redemption there may be no one to sell the bond to, or only at a discount.
• Little public information. Not every issue has a price, and you have to work out the yield yourself from the prospectus.
• The rate after the put date. If the prospectus allows it, the company can cut the coupon rate from the put date, and you then either accept it or sell the bonds back to the company.
• Inflation and the exchange rate. Hryvnia bonds lose in dollars when the hryvnia weakens faster than the rate makes up for.
• Concentration. Putting everything into one company's bonds means depending on one company.

08How to buy from Ukraine

1. Open a securities account with a broker licensed by Ukraine's securities regulator (NSSMC) that has access to the PFTS or Perspektyva exchange.
2. Find the issue on the exchange list and read its prospectus: the coupon rate, the payment schedule, the term, the put date and the security.
3. Look at the company's financial statements: whether it makes a profit and how much it owes.
4. Work out the yield to maturity from the price, and compare it with the OVDP yield over a similar term.
5. Place an order with the broker. Coupons will reach your account after tax.

How bonds work in general is explained in the article "What Are Bonds".

09Work it out further

• Work out an issue's yield from its price, coupon and term in the bond yield calculator.
• Read how return and risk are linked in the article "Risk and Return".
• Compare with government bonds on the OVDP page, and with every option on the "Where to invest" board.