Romania initiates green Samurai bond to be completed on October 2

The banks hired by Romania for the Samurai bond on the Japanese market have already taken steps and set the initial spreads for the six separate maturities (3 to 20 years) proposed to investors and will announce the results of the issue this week, according to Bloomberg and Ziarul Financiar.

The bonds are intended to be "green," meaning, in principle, that investors could offer better interest rates in exchange for the funds being spent on financing expenses with a positive impact on the environment.

The move would follow similar steps of Slovenia (JPY 50 bln or EUR 311 mln) and Hungary (JPY 40 bln or EUR 250 mln) on the Japanese market in August and respectively September this year.

The planned size of Romania's yen-denominated issue is in the range of USD 100 mln-300 mln, according to Profit.ro, which makes it a rather small one compared to the billions collected by the country in the US dollar or euro bonds. But it would mark the return of Romania to the market of Japan for the first time after the 90s, opening the door for further issues.

Profit.ro expects the outcome of the issue to be finalised on October 4 – two days after the end of the subscription period.

According to Bloomberg, the banks that will handle the bond issue are Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Nomura Holdings Inc., and SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. as joint lead managers for potential yen-denominated green bonds.

The bond issue will be structured in 6 tranches for 3 years, 5 years, 7 years, 10 years, 15 years, and 20 years. The final amount and the yields will depend on the investors' appetite.

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