Romania’s BCR raises RON 1.12 bln in new bond issue on local market

Banca Comercială Română (BCR), part of Austria’s Erste Group, announced it successfully completed a new local bond issue worth RON 1.125 billion (some EUR 225 million), further expanding its base of eligible liabilities. The bonds will be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

It is the 13th bond issue issued by BCR, and the bank has so far attracted financing of RON 9.8 billion (nearly EUR 2 billion).

The new issue consists of senior non-preferential bonds with a maturity of six years and an early redemption option after five years, in November 2030. The instruments received credit ratings of Baa2 from Moody’s and BBB+ from Fitch, in line with the ratings granted under the bank’s multi-issuer bond programme.

BCR said the transaction demonstrates investors’ confidence in its financial stability and strategy, as well as in the long-term prospects of the Romanian economy.

Investor demand was robust, with orders exceeding RON 750 million in the first hours of the bookbuilding process and surpassing RON 1.2 billion by the end of the first day. The strong appetite enabled the bank to set the final margin at 85bps, below the initially indicated 90–100bps range. The bank said this is the lowest spread recorded by a Romanian bank in recent years for non-preferential senior issues.

The issue represents another step in BCR’s ongoing efforts to diversify its funding sources and strengthen its position in the local capital market.

(Photo source: Gabriel Petrescu/Dreamstime.com)