Norofert wants to raise 15 million lei through a bond offering starting today

Organic agricultural input producer and agricultural biotechnology provider Norofert is looking to sell bonds worth up to 15 million lei in a public offering starting today, the company reported to the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).

The offering will be considered successful if at least 50,000 bonds are subscribed, with a total nominal value of five million lei. The bonds have an annual interest rate of 10%, a five-year maturity, and will be listed on the BVB's Multilateral Trading System under the symbol NRF29.

The net proceeds from the bond issue will be used mainly for: i) investments in irrigation systems for the Zimnicea farm owned by Norofert, ii) supporting the activities of companies registered in the United States of America, part of the Norofert group (hiring personnel, marketing expenses and the acquisition of an automatic packaging line for 2.5 gallon cans); iii) supporting current activities and iv) repayment of bonds maturing in 2025, traded on the BVB under the symbol NRF25, with the consequence of improving the issuer's debt maturity profile, according to the offer prospectus prepared by TradeVille.

The minimum subscription is ten bonds, at the price of 100 lei per security (nominal value), and the maximum is 150,000 bonds, the offer is to end on December 16.

"The bonds are redeemable, in full (not in part), at the issuer's initiative, starting at any time after the first twelve months from the Issue Date, with at least thirty days' notice notified in accordance with the applicable legal provisions (...). At the time of early redemption (if applicable) the issuer will pay the holders for each bond held on the reference date a "clean" redemption price of 101% if the redemption takes place after the first year, respectively 100.5% after the second year", the prospectus states.

For the first nine months of the year, Norofert reported a turnover of 35.5 million lei, 9.8% above the same period last year, while the net result amounted to 1.37 million lei, up 24.3%. At an individual level, the turnover amounted to 32.6 million lei, up 3%, while the net profit was 1.29 million lei, down 15.2%.

Currently, Norofert has a bond issue listed on the BVB worth 11.5 million lei, with a fixed interest rate of 8.5% per annum and maturing in January next year. The company's stock market valuation amounts to about 65 million lei.