EIB Launches RON150M 7-Yr Bonds, With 12.625% Coupon

The bonds have a fixed-rate coupon of 12.625%, and the maturity is due on March 16, 2016.

The lead managers are Austria’s Erste Group Bank and Erste’s Romanian unit, Banca Comerciala Romana.

Rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch rated the issue with "AAA," while Moody’s rated it "Aaa."

The European Investment Bank, or EIB, is the long-term lending bank of the European Union.

Early February, EIB representatives told MEDIAFAX that the lender does not exclude launching new leu bonds, to finance Romanian projects, mainly in infrastructure.

In 2007, EIB sold RON300 million 7-year bonds.

In February, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD, announced two leu-denominated bond issues.

EBRD has launched on February 3 its first ever issue in lei, worth of RON115 million, with a ten-year maturity and a fixed-rate coupon of 11.25%.

On February 17, EBRD launched a two-year RON50 million bond issue with a fixed-rate coupon of 15.5%.