Press release: Montenegro Successful in Bonds Issue Worth 180 million EUR

Montenegro has today successfully issued sovereign bonds worth EUR 180 million.

The transaction was preceded by three – day presentation, so - called road show encompassing visits to London, Geneva, Zurich, Frankfurt and Vienna, where the representatives of the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank met with numerous investors and presented the economic and fiscal indicators of Montenegro.

This is the second bonds issue following a quite successful debut in September last year. Furthermore, this is the first transaction on the European bonds market at the beginning of the year in which a country with the credit rating bellow A is entering the marker, and its success is just a proof of increased credibility in the state, representing at the same time the justification of our estimates referring to the timing of entering into the market.

As it was the case with the previous issue, even this time Montenegro succeeded in attracting a high number of investors. The demand was twice higher than the offered amount for sale, and bonds were purchased by 67 investors from 21 different counties from Europe, Asia and the U.S.

The high investors demand is confirming their confidence in both our economy and the fiscal policy, reaffirming that our economic policy is on the right path, being recently confirmed by the IMF and Moody’s Agency.

Bonds time to maturity is five years, and the interest rate is lower than the first bonds issue being 7.25% (in the previous year the interest rate amounted to 7,875%). The joint lead managers were two recognized banks JP Morgan and HSBC, while the Law Firm Linklaters from London was a legal advisor in the process of developing the prospectus.

The purchase structure is as following: asset managers 48%, banks 23%, private banks 15%, pension and insurance funds 7%, hedge funds 7%, and the following geographic percentage: Germany /Austria 40%, Great Britain 20%, Switzerland 16%, SEE 10%, other European Counties 9%, U.S.A 3%.

PR UNIT
Ministry of Finance