New lei bond issuance printed by BCR

Banca Comercială Română (BCR) has successfully printed a new senior non-preferred bond issuance of 351.5 million lei, continuing its strategy of expanding its financing sources and contributing to the development of the capital market in Romania.

The bank has printed in the last 3 years an amount of 3.05 billion lei in bond issuances, being one the most active issuers on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The issuance represents senior non-preferred notes, with a 5-year maturity, while plans are for it to be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The notes have been assigned an expected long-term rating of BBB+ by Fitch.

The book building process has shown strong interest from investors, hence the deal size was increased from 250 million lei to 351.5 million lei, with a coupon of 6.76%, also reflecting the solid performance of the bank. The distribution benefitted from the notable participation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

"Predictability and recurrence, these are two of the main factors that investors are looking when they choose which resources they invest in. We have reached a new milestone of 3 billion lei in bond issuances and this is another proof that the Romanian capital market is solid, even in a volatile and difficult international context. The interest of investors was higher than expected, a healthy sign for the sustainability of the Romanian economy", stated Sergiu Manea, CEO of Banca Comercială Română.

The bond issuance has shown its early success when, at the end of the first subscription day, the order book was covered above the 250 million lei amount targeted. On the second day, the order book was oversubscribed, leading to the decision to close the book early and to increase the issued amount to 351.5 million lei. The final volume also reflects our commitment to the market in terms of future issuance plans and our firm intention of building a relationship of trust with our investors.

With this issuance, BCR took another step forward towards compliance with the EU regulations on the minimum capacity that banks must have in order to absorb the losses, the Minimum Requirements of own funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL) and MREL guidelines in line with targeted resolution strategy.

Photo credit: BCR