Ljubljana - Slovenia performed additional issues of two bonds in the total amount of EUR 750 million, adding EUR 350 million to the bond due in March 2032 and EUR 400 million to the bond due in October 2050. The treasury has also earmarked US$582.7 million and EUR 15 million for repurchase of dollar- and euro-denominated state bonds maturing in 2023 and 2024.

The total nominal value of the bond due in March 2032 with a coupon rate of 2.25% (RS77) is now EUR 2.7 billion, and the total nominal value of the bond due in October 2050 with a coupon rate of 0.4875% (RS85) is now EUR 1.65 billion.

Announcing the additional issues on Wednesday, the Finance Ministry said that investors had shown strong interest and just before noon Slovenia set the spread to midswap (MS) at +13 basis points for RS77 and +68 basis points for RS85.

The order book exceeded EUR 1 billion for RS77 and EUR 1.1 billion for RS85, the ministry added.

The offering of the additional issues was jointly led by the banks Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group and J.P. Morgan.

Investors in the RS77 bond are mostly from the UK and Ireland and France and Benelux countries. Most of the investors in the RS8 bond are also from the UK and Ireland, followed by companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The structure of investors in both bonds is dominated by fund managers, followed by banks, venture capital funds, central banks and insurance and pension funds.

The treasury has also earmarked US$582.7 million and EUR 15 million for repurchase of dollar- and euro-denominated state bonds maturing in 2023 and 2024, a posting on the website of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange shows.

The offer, which stood until 15 February, applied to the 10-year bond at the nominal value of US$2.5bn and a coupon rate of 5.85% due in 2023, of which US$133,167,000 is currently outstanding.

It also applied to the US$2.64 billion bond with a coupon rate of 5.25% due in 2024 of which US$1.25 billion is still outstanding.

For the bond due in 2023, the accepted amount is US$6.75 million, and for the bond due in 2024, it is US$575.99 million. The redemption yield amounted to 1.395% and 1.739%, respectively, and accrued interest at 1.674% and 0.073%, respectively.

The treasury was also collecting bids for euro bonds; the three-year EUR 2.23 billion issue with a coupon rate of 0.2% due in 2023, of which EUR 2.063 billion is still outstanding, and the EUR 1.5 billion bond issue due in September 2024 with a coupon rate of 4.625% of which EUR 1.5 billion is currently outstanding.

It accepted EUR 11.95 million for the former and EUR 3.06 million for the latter. The redemption yield amounted to -0.6% and -0.25%, respectively, and accrued interest was at 1.18% and 2.116%, respectively.

Acting as dealer managers in the operation are Barclays Bank Ireland, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group Bank and J.P. Morgan SE, whereas Lucid Issuer Services Limited is acting as information and tender agent.

The repurchase could be financed with the additional issues of two euro bonds that was completed today.