International investors have shown major interest in this first Romgaz bond issue on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which shows that the company’s development plans and the Neptun Deep project are appreciated, said Răzvan Popescu, CEO of the Romanian natural gas producer.

“We made the first bond issue within a broader program, of 1.5 billion euros. It was quite a titanic job to rewrite this prospectus. My colleagues had the experience of the share prospectus from 11 years ago, but many things have changed since then. What makes me very happy is that these amounts clearly contribute to the development of the Neptun Deep project and to the development of the other projects within the company. We had good results in nine months, with an increase in hydrocarbon production, even though Romgaz’s strategy is to maintain production at an adequate level. This increase shows the commitment we have in ensuring Romania’s energy security. What we noticed from this first issue was the major interest that international investors had. This shows that both we, Romgaz as a company, the Neptun Deep project and the development plans are appreciated and the fact that this consortium that brokered this deal did its job,” said Popescu, at the listing event of the first Romgaz bond issue on the BVB.

He added that it is important that Romgaz bonds are traded on the BVB, not just on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, in order to have liquidity locally.

“For us, it is very important that these bonds are also traded locally, here, to have liquidity, not just on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. This year, through the capital increase we made, nine free shares were issued for every one held, to increase Romgaz liquidity in the market, to create better liquidity, to somehow boost trading with these securities. We also have a market maker who has already been in the market for two years and is creating this liquidity. We have the premises for the next issues to be successful. We issued somewhere at 4.77% and this morning Romgaz bonds were trading below 4.5%, which also shows continued investor interest and increased liquidity,” said Răzvan Popescu.

SNGN Romgaz, the largest producer and main supplier of natural gas in Romania, listed its first international corporate bond issue on Tuesday, worth 500 million euros, with a five-year maturity and a fixed interest rate of 4.75%. The bonds are dually listed, respectively on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.