UniCredit Bank Romania raises 488.5 mln lei (99 mln euro) in bond placement

The bond issue is part of a wider program to diversify financing sources and increase access to financing for customers, UniCredit said in a press release.

The bank had planned to raise 450 million lei, but the offer was oversubscribed by local institutional investors and international financial institutions.

The bonds have a five-year maturity and a fixed coupon rate of 9.07%.

"This new bond issue represents a new step in the diversification of our funding structure that will help increase customer access to credits, especially to green mortgages, in line with our strategy to promote and support ESG fundamentals, and will support lending to companies active in sectors hit by economic consequences of the geopolitical situation," UniCredit Bank CEO Rasvan Radu said.

The bonds are to be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

UniCredit Romania posted a 6.7% year-on-year increase in net profit in the first nine months of 2022, to 142 million euro ($151 million), its parent, Italian banking group UniCredit, said in October.

UniCredit Bank operated 141 branches in Romania as of end-September 2022.

(1 euro=4.914 lei)