Who will broker Bucharest’s EUR 500 mln bond issue and for what fee?

Bucharest’s municipality has selected the consortium made of Japanese investment bank Nomura, local bank Raiffeisen Bank and local brokerage firm BT Securities (owned by Banca Transilvania) to broker its EUR 500 million bond issue. The consortium will receive a EUR 225,000 fee for the deal, which is 0,045% of the whole value of the bond issue, according to an official announcement from the municipality. The initial estimated cost of the contract was EUR 1.44 million, or 0.29% of the value of the offering. The other bidder for the contract was a consortium made of BCR and BRD-SocGen, Romania’s two largest banks. Bucharest’s municipality is looking to raise EUR 500 million worth of bonds, but in local currency (RON), to refinance a EUR 500 million Eurobond issue which reaches maturity towards the middle of this year, on June 22. This will be the largest bond issue in Romania, apart for those of the Finance Ministry. The bonds will be then listed and traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. editor@romania-insider.com