Bulgaria Places EUR 3.1 B Triple-Tranche Bond

Bulgaria has sold a EUR 3.1 B triple-tranche bond comprising of seven-, 12- and 20-year maturities on foreign markets, the Finance Ministry said on Friday.

The volume is the biggest amount of debt issued by a country in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) through a single syndicate of banks, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Citigroup, HSBC, Societe Generale and UniCredit are the lead managers of the issue.

The transaction is also the first one of the triple-tranche type on the euro bond market in the CEEMEA region.

Bids for a combined EUR 4.9 B worth of bonds from the three tranches were placed by 370 investors on 19 March following a four-day road show in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna.

The strong investor interest and the wide diversity of bids testify to Bulgaria's good creditworthiness, stable macroeconomic fundamentals and exceptional consistency in financial stability and fiscal discipline policies, according to the statement.

Bulgaria sold EUR 1.25 B in seven-year bonds at 2.18% yield, EUR 1.0 B in twelve-year bonds at 2.73% yield and EUR 850 M worth of twenty-year bonds at 3.26%.

The three tranches will mature on 26 March of 2022, 2027 and 2035, respectively.

The bond issue is part of the Bulgarian government's three-year  programme to borrow up to EUR 8 B , including up to EUR 3.5 B in 2015, to finance budget deficits and roll over maturing debt.