BUCHAREST (Romania), January 23 (SeeNews) - Romanian organic farming products manufacturer Norofert Group said that it has successfully closed its first private placement of corporate bonds, attracting 11.5 million lei ($2.66 million/2.4 million euro) from Bucharest Stock Exchange investors.
The offer, which started on January 21 and closed the same day, was oversubscribed by investors, Norofert said in a press release on Wednesday.
Norofert will use the capital raised during the private placement to finance its expansion on foreign markets, particularly in the United States. To enter the US market, Norofert needs to obtain individual approvals for each of its products, which requires significant resources, the company explained.
The raised funds will also be directed into working capital, in order to purchase primary materials to meet growing demand for Norofert’s products as well as keep expanding the portfolio of services and product lines.
Tradeville was the intermediary to the transaction.
A total of 102 investors participated in the placement, with the average subscription exceeding 100,000 lei. During the offer, 115,000 corporate bonds of 100 lei in par value and maturity of 5 years were put up for sale. The final interest rate, to be paid semi-annually, was set at 8.5%.
The company’s corporate bonds will float on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange under the NRF25 symbol, with the exact date for the debut being subject to the admission to trading procedures.
“We decided to further finance our business through the stock exchange to reach three objectives – to raise the necessary capital for development, to do it transparently, and thirdly, to not decrease further our and other shareholders’ stake in the business,” Norofert board chairman, Vlad Popescu, said.
The placement was the second transaction in the capital markets for Norofert Group, which raised 7.25 million lei from BVB investors in July. The capital raised back then has been directed into the launch and promotion of a new products line, expansion of the team with 23 new employees as well as equipping and kickstarting the operations in the new factory in Filipesti de Padure.
Following the investments, the production capacity at the factory has increased ten-fold. The financial performance of the company has been also positively impacted. In the first 10 months of 2019, Norofert’s revenues increased by 29% year-on-year to 11.5 million lei and its net profit rose by 8% to 4 million lei.
Norofert, present on the market since 2000, is the main producer of organic fertilizers in Romania and holds about 30% of the local market of inputs for organic farming.
Norofert Group has currently three main business lines – Norofert Organics, which is a line of organic inputs for medium- to large-scale farming, Norofert Karisma, which is a line of fertilizers for large-scale conventional farming, and FITO, a hobby gardening line that also targets small-scale organic farmers.
(1 euro=4.7786 lei)