October 23 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's First Investment Bank [BUL:FIB] said that it has decided to postpone a planned 300 million euro ($317.7 million) issuance of senior preferred notes on international capital markets due to the currently unfavourable global geopolitical situation, market conditions and investor expectations.
First Investment Bank has not abandoned its intention to carry out the bond issuance, which would be of a record amount for a Bulgarian financial institution, the lender said in a stock exchange filing on Friday.
In September, Fibank began testing market interest in a potential 300 million euro inaugural green bond, the proceeds of which would help finance green and sustainable projects under the bank's Green Finance Framework.
The prospective eurobond, which was expected to be listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange, obtained an initial long-term rating of 'B(EXP)' and a recovery rating of 'RR4' from Fitch Ratings. However, Fitch withdrew the rating last week, saying it did not expect the senior preferred debt issue to proceed as previously envisaged.
As at 1046 CEST on October 23, shares in First Investment Bank traded 1.59% lower at 2.48 levs ($1.34/1.26 euro) on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
($ = 0.9442 euro)
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