AS Citadele Banka has completed issuance of EUR 200 million of senior unsecured preferred bonds. The bonds were issued with five years maturity, with issuer’s optional redemption date after four years.
"This is a historical moment - the bond issue is not only the first time for Citadele, but also the first time in the last 10 years a Latvian bank has tapped international capital markets. This deal is a testimony of our improved business quality which facilitates placement capabilities both in and outside the Baltic market,” said Johan Akerblom, Citadele CEO.
The bond expected to be dually listed on Nasdaq Riga and Euronext Dublin. Thus, Citadele is supporting development of local capital markets, and currently this will be the only international placement listed in Nasdaq Riga.
“AS Citadele first listed its bonds on the Nasdaq Baltic bond list in 2016 and it’s particularly pleasing to see bank continuing to use the opportunities offered by the bond market to accelerate their growth. We congratulate AS Citadele on this successful bond issue of EUR 200 million and wish further success,” said Daiga Auziņa-Melalksne, the CEO of Nasdaq Riga and Head of the Nasdaq Baltic Market.
The senior unsecured preferred bonds were offered to institutional investors. In total almost 40 investors participated in the offering. Out of total order book 59% was received from Nordic and Baltic investors, 27% from UK and 14% from investors of other European countries. The new security was priced with a coupon of 1.625%.
"It comes without surprise that the deal was mainly driven by domestic and regional demand given existing relationships and a more pronounced name recognition. A variety of asset managers and pension funds showed interest in the deal, supported by an early anchor order from the official institution segment. It is rewarding to see, that the extensive investor work paid off, resulting in a solid international participation from prominent United Kingdom and German/Austrian accounts, speaking for the appreciation of the issuer’s credit story," said Valters Ābele, Citadele CFO.
The purpose of the issuance is to meet Minimum Requirement for own funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL). Proceeds from the offer are to be used by Citadele for its general corporate purposes.
The bonds are rated Baa3 by Moody’s.
About the Citadele Group
Citadele’s mission is to modernise the banking sector and offer more opportunities to clients and businesses throughout the Baltics.
Citadele is the second largest bank in Latvia by assets. The Citadele group is managed from Latvia.
Its subsidiaries and branches operate in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. In 2020 one of Central and Eastern Europe’s leading customer service evaluation and improvement companies—Dive GROUP—recognised Citadele as the bank with the best customer service in Latvia and the second best in Lithuania.