Telekom Serbia issues Eurobonds

“The Telekom Serbia company has successfully issued international corporate Eurobonds on the exchange in Dublin worth 900 million US Dollars,” a press release said.

It added that the issue has a 7 percent annual interest rate in Dollars with the final interest rate standing at around 5.9 percent in Euro.

Telekom CEO Vladimir Lucic said that the demand for the Eurobonds was 5.5 billion Dollars. “We will use the funds to refinance part of the existing debt,” the press release quoted him as saying.

Telekom partnered with BNP Paribas, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group, Raiffeisen bank, UniCredit and MUFG to issue the bonds. The press release said the Eurobonds were issued without any guarantees.

“The S&P Global Agency graded the bonds BB- with stable prospects and the Fitch agency graded them B+ with positive prospects,” the press release said. It claimed that this was the first time that a company from the Western Balkans was given credit ratings for its bonds by international credit agencies.

The Telekom Serbia Shareholders Assembly upheld the decision to issue long-term, unsecured and unsubordinated bonds worth 400 to 850 million Euro or the equal amount in US Dollars on October 14.

Telekom Serbia also issued Dinar bonds worth some 200 million Euro in September 2020. Those bonds were bought by 5 commercial banks and resold to the National Bank of Serbia (NBS).