Moscow-based International Investment Bank (IIB) announced on September 26 it has made a successful bond placement on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). IIB placed bonds in the Romanian national currency amounting to RON300mn (€65mn) and in euros totaling €60mn.

This is the IIB’s third issue in Romania. In September last year, the IIB successfully placed RON300mn (€65.3mn) worth of three-year bonds on the BVB. In October 2015, the IIB carried out its first placement in Romania totalling RON111mn.

The bonds have a maturity of three years. The rate in RON is bound to the inter-bank lending rate in Romania and equal to ROBOR 3M + 1.50% per annum, the rate in euros: 1.593% per annum, IIB said in a statement.

The bookbuilding process was significantly oversubscribed and the demand more than double the supply.

The IIB’s offer attracted significant interest from institutional and sectoral investors, from both Romania and other EU countries, including those from outside the IIB’s member states. Pension and investment funds, insurance, management and brokerage companies, and other banks actively participated in the placement.

“Without any exaggeration, the issue could be described as historical occasion for the both IIB and for Romania. The placement has a record volume for the bank, for the first time it was structured in two tranches: in Romanian lei and in euros. For the first time, the IIB has issued bonds denominated in euros in a country outside the Eurozone,"  Nikolay Kosov, chairman of the IIB board, said.

“The value of the issue for the Romania is related to the fact that the IIB has become the first issuer on the Bucharest Stock Exchange to place bonds denominated in euros. Thus, the bank is successfully achieving one of its strategic goals – to provide assistance for the development of the national stock markets of its member states in line with its mission," he added.

The IIB is a multilateral development institution founded in 1970 and reformed in 2012. Its current nine members/shareholders are Bulgaria, Cuba, Czech Republic, Hungary, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Vietnam, all participating through intergovernmental agreements. In April, 2015, the IIB opened its first European regional office in Bratislava.