The issuance of the new 7-year bond by PPC was a great success as the company finally raised the amount of €600 million, which increased compared to the initial target of €500 million.
The bids reached €2 billion, four times more than the initial proposal.
With the coupon finally reduced to 4.625%, (from 4.75%) this is a vote of confidence by the markets in the company as it is the cheapest European 7-year coupon issued by a company with the same credit rating as PPC since February 2022. In fact, the spread on PPC's bond is the lowest the company has achieved on all the bonds it has issued since 2020 (200 bps lower than the 2020 and 2021 issues).
It is also noteworthy that the majority of investors in the PPC bond are foreign, predominantly long-term, investors.
PPC entered the markets with the aim of being a regular issuer in the international markets, without the need to refinance any bond, as the two bonds it already has mature in 2026 and 2028 and will be traded simultaneously with the new third bond, which matures in 2031, demonstrating the confidence of investors, who chose to finance the new PPC bond with new additional liquidity.
The €600 million will be used for investments by PPC and its subsidiaries as part of the group's growth business plan. With investments of €9 billion over the three-year period, mainly in renewable energy, grid upgrades, and new operations, up 130% compared to the three-year period 2021-2023, the forward-looking business plan of the largest energy company in Southeast Europe, as PPC Group is now after entering the Romanian market, is based on a holistic approach around the green transition and the triptych of clean energy production, modern grids, and a customer-centric philosophy.
The management's goal is for the PPC Group to become an energy leader in the region and a major player in Europe, with sound finances and integrated services. A "green" group that in 2030 will have an EBITDA of €3 billion from different activities, so that it can cope with any crisis and respond to its critical role in all the countries where it operates.
