Page 17 - bneMag Oct23

bne October 2023 Companies & Markets I 17
Romania sells €3bn Eurobonds to cover
growing financing needs
Iulian Ernst in Bucharest
Romania raised €3bn (1% of GDP) on September 11 with two Eurobonds, amid high interest expressed by investors who placed€9bnoforders,inanattempttocoverpartofthe gap between the country’s actual financing needs and the initial plans – which might range between 1.1% and 2.4% of GDP.
The €3bn was the remainder of Romania’s planned external financing after it raised two-thirds of the full-year target – €5.6bn of €8.5bn – from the foreign market in January.
In the meantime, the target was pushed up significantly by insufficient tax collection. The government initially targeted a 4.4%-of-GDP deficit (consistent with the initial financing needs), but informally shifted the target to 5.5%-of-GDP during the summer and failure to implement any fiscal amendments by the end of the year would result in a 6.8%- of-GDP gap, according to the executive’s calculations.
The maturities of the two Eurobonds are five and ten years.
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The fixed coupons, subject to minor adjustments, were 255bp and 340bp above mid-swap, resulting in 5.5% (five-year maturity) and6.57%(ten-yearmaturity).
For comparison, Romania issued Eurobonds with the same maturities at the end of January 2023, when the spreads over the mid-swap were 195bp, respectively 340bp.
The bonds were arranged by Citi, Erste Group, HSBC, JP Morgan and Societe Generale.
The Eurobonds were launched just after Fitch expressed rather optimistic expectations vis-a-vis Romania’s capacity
to conduct the fiscal consolidation – but before the announcement of the concrete, promised fiscal amendments.
Fitch said Romania would be able to keep the public deficit at 5.5% of GDP – but this is still uncertain as the government may enforce corrective measures only from January.
Three bidders shortlisted for Czech parcels delivery company Packeta
Albin Sybera
Private equity firm Advent International, Czech financial group PPF, and Czech energy tycoon Daniel Kretinsky are the remaining bidders for Czech parcels company Zasilkovna, known internationally as Packeta.
Only the bids of at least €300mn now remained, Czech business daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) reported.
Zasilkovna/Packeta was founded in 2010 by Simona Kijonkova and Jaromir Kijonek, who hold 48.6% of the shares. Another 21% is held by the company Notino, 10% is held by Zasilkovna’s former IT programmer Lukas Bilek, and 10% by entrepreneur Martin Kukacka.
In early May, Kijoneks stated that Zasilkovna is for sale, triggering speculations in the Czech media about potential bidders, with PPF being commented on frequently.
Parcel delivery firms have become very hot in Emerging Europe, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic led to
a boom for online shopping and delivery services. Poland's InPost floated in Amsterdam in early 2021 at €16, valuing it at €8bn, though its shares have since fallen to under €11.
PPF bought a 15% stake in InPost from Advent in May at €10 a share and has an option to buy another 15% from the private equity group. PPF’s CEO Jiri Smejc is heading to InPost’s Supervisory Board, HN reported earlier.
Zasilkovna has become one of the most popular Czech brands, according to a study by consultants KPMG. In connection to the study, another Czech business daily, E15, visualised that Zasilkovna’s growth from 7 million dispatches in 2017 to 90 million dispatches in 2022 is akin to growth from an atoll in Polynesia to the Italian Mediterranean island of Ischia.
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