Romanian RCS&RDS completes EUR 350 mln bond issue and EUR 375 mln loan

Romanian group RCS&RDS, the largest cable and broadband Internet operator in Romania, has completed a bond issue worth EUR 350 million, and has contracted a loan of RON 1.687 billion (EUR 375 million). Cable Communications Systems N.V., which owns RCS&RDS, has issued 7-year bonds that pay an annual coupon of 5%. The bonds will be listed and traded on the Irish Stock Exchange. The company has also contracted a 5-year syndicated loan amounting to over RON 1.6 billion from Citibank, Banca Transilvania, BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, ING Bank, Raiffeisen, and UniCredit. The proceeds have been used for the early repayment of the EUR 450 million bonds issued by Cable Communications Systems in 2013, and the refinancing of some loan facilities contracted by RCS&RDS in 2015 and 2016. The bonds and loans are guaranteed with RCS&RDS assets. According to Serghei Bulgac, RCS&RDS general manager, the group has managed to reduce its financing costs by a third and has reduced the currency risk, as the loan is in Romanian currency RON. RCS&RDS was advised by law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and PeliFilip for this operation. RCS&RDS is controlled by local investor Zoltan Teszari, via the company Cable Communications Systems, which is registered in the Netherlands. The group has operations in telecom and media and had a turnover of EUR 607 million and 10,600 employees in Romania, in 2015 . editor@romania-insider.com