Business Forum • 20 January, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Raiffeisen Bank has placed its first benchmark eurobond issuance with a total nominal value of €500 million, in a reference transaction for CEE capital markets.
The bank's senior non-preferred eligible bonds were subscribed at a fixed coupon of 4.136% per annum for the first five years, at a margin of 1.62 percentage points above the 5-year euro reference rate (mid-swap), approximately 0.35-0.38 percentage points below the yield of similar maturity eurobonds issued by the Romanian state.
The issuance attracted interest from over 180 international and local institutional investors, primarily investment funds, insurers and pension funds from the UK, France and the DACH region, generating the third largest order book (over €2.8 billion final book and over €3.3 billion peak book) for an MREL eligible bond issuance by a CEE bank, as well as the most competitive financing margin obtained by a Romanian bank for an MREL eurobond issuance.
The bonds were rated Baa2 by Moody's, one notch above Romania's sovereign rating (Baa3), and will be included in the bank's own funds and eligible liabilities base, subject to approval by the National Bank of Romania. The transaction was intermediated by Bank of America, ING Bank N.V, Natixis and Raiffeisen Bank International as global lead managers and Raiffeisen Bank as co-manager, with the bonds to be listed on the Luxembourg stock exchange.
"We thank all investors who supported us in this transaction. Their interest confirms the strength of our business model, based on our commitment to support the sustainable development of the Romanian economy through financial solutions suited to our clients' needs," said Alina Rus, Vice-President & CFO Raiffeisen Bank Romania. The transaction represents the ninth bond series issued by the bank since launching its EMTN bond programme, raising total capital market financing to approximately €1.6 billion.