Raiffeisen Bank first green bonds, a premiere on the Romanian banking sector, started trading today on Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), under the ticker RBRO26. Raiffeisen Bank attracted in April 2021, at the time of the bond issue, over RON 400mn. The funds obtained will be channeled to finance Raiffeisen Bank’s eligible projects to ensure the transition to a sustainable and solid economy, reads a press release.
“By listing the green bonds issued by Raiffeisen Bank on Bucharest Stock Exchange, we reaffirm our commitment to contribute both to the development of sustainable and prosperous communities, by mobilizing resources to projects that generate value for the entire Romanian society, and the development of the capital market by diversifying the products offered to Romanian investors. In fact, Raiffeisen Bank paved the way for other companies on the Romanian market to follow its example. Our team has know-how and is ready to support all these projects and the future green bonds issued by other companies. I am very proud of what we have achieved, and I want to congratulate the whole team that contributed to the bond issue and its listing. It is an important moment both for us and for Bucharest Stock Exchange”, said Steven van Groningen, Raiffeisen Bank President and CEO.
“We are pleased that Raiffeisen Bank marks a premiere on BVB’s Main Market by listing its first green bond issue. We want to see other companies issuing such bonds soon, especially in the context of the institutional investor attention to this type of financial instruments is constantly growing. ESG criteria are becoming more and more important in investment decisions, and the amounts allocated to green financial instruments are considerable. This is one of the reasons why we launched a project to implement ESG standards among BVB listed companies. It is very important that the primary market has been activated by the 60 listings of shares and bonds in the last two and a half years and we see that this effervescence continues”, said Radu Hanga, Bucharest Stock Exchange President.
The first issue of green bonds carried out by Raiffeisen Bank on the Romanian market was addressed to institutional investors and attracted over RON 400.5mn. The bonds have a 5 years maturity, a fixed coupon of 3.086%, approximately 0.5 pp. over the yield of government securities, with the same maturity and issued in the same currency, RON. With a demand of almost RON 650mn, the bond issue was oversubscribed by almost 1.6 times.
“We are happy for two reasons for today’s Raiffeisen Bank bonds listing. On the one hand, it is the fourth bond issue that Raiffeisen Bank has listed on the stock exchange, which strengthens our partnership. On the other hand, this bond issue, through its peculiarities, comes to confirm once again the direction that both we and investors consider important for the society we live in, namely the sustainability of all projects financed through the capital market”, said Adrian Tanase, Bucharest Stock Exchange CEO.
Today’s listing is the fourth one for Raiffeisen Bank on Bucharest Stock Exchange. Along with the bonds that started trading on May 27th, listed also on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, investors have the opportunity to invest in Raiffeisen Bank bonds listed on May 14th, 2020, under the ticker RBRO29, an issue with a total value of RON 480mn and a 9 years maturity. The first two bond issues of Raiffeisen Bank, from 2013 and 2014, have reached maturity.
Raiffeisen Bank Romania has over 20 years of activity on the Romanian banking sector and over 2.2 million customers, individuals, and legal entities. The bank has over 4,800 employees, 330 agencies across the country, 720 ATMs, 393 multifunction machines (MFMs) and a network of over 24,500 POS.