EuroChem places US$700 million Eurobond issue

During an intensive roadshow in the US and Europe, the Group says it was met with strong interest from high-quality international investors. The final book was twice oversubscribed.

Initial price guidance was announced in the 5.875% area for a new five-year Eurobond offering, but the order book response was such that the Group revised price guidance twice, and priced the offering at 5.50%.

The transaction is the largest non-investment-grade issue from Russia since June 2017, and the very first Eurobond offering since February 2018.

“We’re proud to have achieved unprecedented results by pricing the largest Eurobond issuance in international public debt capital markets for the Group, and with our longest tenor, since 2012,” Acting CEO and Chief Financial Officer, Kuzma Marchuk, said.

“We strongly believe that our landmark transaction will pave the way for further private corporate issuances from Russian entities in the Eurobond market,” he added.

The liability management transaction, which involved tendering two outstanding bonds with maturities in 2020 and 2021, will help improve the Group’s debt redemption schedule. The company achieved one of the highest participation rates to date among similar issuers and the total acceptance amount was increased from US$500 million to US$747.8 million.

“We believe this successful placement will enhance our presence in the financial markets,” said EuroChem Head of Treasury and Corporate Finance, Ruslan Karmanny. “We have extended our existing curve on the Eurobond market and placed a new 5-year benchmark, and this transaction underlines investors’ confidence in our business strategy, the ongoing deleveraging initiative and our sound financial profile.”

Citigroup and JP Morgan acted as joint global coordinators on the bond. Joint managers and bookrunners were: Citigroup, JP Morgan, Sberbank, Société Générale, UniCredit and VTB Capital. PJSC Sovcombank acted as the Senior Co-Manager and Sova Capital Limited acted as the Co-Manager.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldfertilizer.com/phosphates/19032019/eurochem-places-us700-million-eurobond-issue/