KGHM copper's PLN 1 bln bonds debut on Catalyst

Listed KGHM copper group's C-series bonds worth PLN 1 billion (EUR 233.9 mln) have made their debut on the Catalyst market on Monday. KGHM plans to publish a strategy in the next few weeks.

"The funds will support the company's development activities. This is one of the elements of the building activity and strategy in terms of financing structure. Even today we will be closing on another transaction, twice as big," the deputy CEO of KGHM Piotr Krzyzewski told the ceremony marking the company's bond debut on the Catalyst market.

He announced that there will be further bond issues in the future.

In June, KGHM issued seven-year series C bonds with a total nominal value of PLN 1 billion (EUR 233.9 mln) on the Polish market, as part of a programme to issue bonds up to a maximum of PLN 4 billion (935 6 mln). The interest rate on the bonds is WIBOR 6M+margin of 125 basis points per year.

The maturity date of the bonds is June 26, 2031.

The CEO of Warsaw Stock Exchange Operator GPW Tomasz Bardzilowski noted that KGHM's bond issue is one of the largest in recent years.

"It is part of the growing investor interest in corporate bonds. In the first half of the year, we have already had 25 public issues of corporate bonds, for which investors placed demand worth almost PLN 2.5 billion, a number already larger than the value of all issues organised in previous years," Bardzilowski said.

He added that the Catalyst market, which has been in existence for nearly 15 years, has nearly 740 series of bond issues as of today.

"We still see a huge potential. The value of the non-Treasury bond market in Poland in relation to the size of the economy still places us in one of the lower positions in the European Union," GPW's CEO pointed out.

"I hope that there will be more large issues like KGHM's, and we would especially like to see companies like KGHM benefit from the huge demand not only from institutional investors, but also from retail investors. We would be happy if KGHM would consider a bond issue for individual investors. It would certainly be met with tremendous interest," he added.

Regarding an issue aimed at individual investors, KGHM's deputy CEO Piotr Krzyzewski replied: "We will think about it."

Krzyzewski said that KGHM will publish a strategy in the next few weeks.

"We will mainly focus on core business, we will take care of the mining string, smelting string, so that the EBITDA margin in the long term will be raised," he added.

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