Romania

Romanian telecoms giant Digi issued an €800m bond this week, offering investors exposure to risky but fast-growing eastern European economies. Digi is joining the long list of companies taking advantage of exceptionally favourable refinancing conditions in European high yield.

Romania sold €1.4bn 2% 2032s and €1.6bn 3.375% 2050s on Tuesday, managing to get away half of the country’s €6bn funding target for 2020 in one swoop.

Two CEEMEA sovereigns are taking the plunge this week — the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a triple tranche dollar benchmark and Romania with a dual tranche euro bond.

Globalworth, a Romania-headquartered real estate investment company, has secured a €200m revolving credit facility from a consortium of local and international lenders.

Globalworth Real Estate Investments, the London-listed real estate investment trust focused on commercial properties in Romania and Poland, is preparing to raise up to €276.45m of fresh equity to finance its bulging pipeline of acquisitions.

Standard & Poor's has affirmed Romania's investment grade rating, at BBB- with a stable outlook. The central European sovereign escaped a downgrade to junk status, but bond auctions this week will determine appetite for the credit.

Standard & Poor’s is due to opine on Romania’s creditworthiness after markets close on Friday, though analysts think the sovereign will be strong enough to hold on to its investment grade rating despite major political upheaval.

Romania entered a crowded euro bond market on Tuesday, with 12 and 30 year papers. The deals may be among the last euro issues from the emerging markets before the summer lull.

Alpha Bank’s subsidiary in Romania has issued its inaugural covered bond (CB) — the first from the country. The ground-breaking deal represents an important milestone in the development of the Romanian capital market and helps diversify the bank’s funding.

Alpha Bank Romania plans to issue the first covered bond from Romania under the country’s newly established legal framework.

Globalworth Real Estate, the London-listed real estate investment trust focused on Romania and Poland, has completed the sale of up to €500m of fresh equity to finance its pipeline of investment opportunities.

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