~ The largest public bond offering on NYSE Alternext since its creation in 2005 ~
~ First issue centralised by NYSE Euronext in a process identical to an IPO ~
Paris – 12 July 2012 NYSE Euronext (NYX) today announced a successful €9.4 million bond issue on NYSE Alternext in Paris by AgroGeneration, a producer of grains and oilseeds in Ukraine and Argentina. The issue offers innovative technical features and conditions linked to a new procedure adopted by NYSE Euronext that centralises access to bonds for individual investors in particular.
Placement took the same form as an IPO of shares, with admission to trading under a global offer that included a public offering in France open to individual investors and centralised by NYSE Euronext, and a global placement with institutional investors by Invest Securities, acting as lead manager and bookrunner. Individual investors subscribed heavily, for a total of €7.8 million.
Holders of AgroGeneration bonds, priced at a nominal €100, will earn 8%* fixed interest a year for six years unless the issuer opts for early redemption starting 1 April 2015. Interest will be paid half-yearly between 1 April and 1 October each year, starting 1 October 2012. This issue has not been rated**.
“NYSE Euronext has developed a new bond offer to allow companies to expand and diversify their sources of financing. AgroGeneration’s issue is a critical first step insofar as NYSE Euronext acted as centraliser, and reflects our efforts to simplify access to bond markets for SMEs,” said Marc Lefèvre, Head of European Business Development and Client Coverage at NYSE Euronext.
“The success of AgroGeneration’s issue shows that individual investors are also keen to invest in such products. Together with our many other efforts, this initiative should help put household savings back on the path to productive investment,” he added.
Charles Vilgrain, Chairman of the Management Board at AgroGeneration, said “I would like to thank the individual and institutional investors who took part in this operation, in today’s difficult market environment, and in so doing demonstrated their confidence in our business model. This bond issue is an integral part of efforts to strengthen and secure our financial structure, and also pursue our ambitious drive for growth. We are engaged in a value creation programme based on gradually improving our farm yields and expanding our leased land holdings, aiming for 100,000 hectares in Ukraine within the next 12 to 18 months and 50,000 hectares in Argentina in a five-year horizon .”
* Excluding fees, commissions and tax - full repayment of capital at maturity except in the event of issuer default
** Details on the issue are from the prospectus issued by AgroGeneration, which readers are invited to consult for more information
Information:
NYSE Euronext
Caroline Tourrier - ctourrier@euronext.com
AgroGeneration
investisseurs@AgroGeneration.com
Actus Finance
Anne-Pauline Petureaux - apetureaux@actus.fr
About NYSE Euronext
NYSE Euronext (NYX) is a leading global operator of financial markets and provider of innovative trading technologies. The company's exchanges in Europe and the United States trade equities, futures, options, fixed-income and exchange-traded products. With approximately 8,000 listed issues (excluding European Structured Products), NYSE Euronext's equities markets — the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext, NYSE MKT, NYSE Alternext and NYSE Arca — represent one-third of the world’s equities trading, the most liquidity of any global exchange group. NYSE Euronext also operates NYSE Liffe, one of the leading European derivatives businesses and the world's second-largest derivatives business by value of trading. The company offers a comprehensive commercial technology, connectivity and market data products and services through NYSE Technologies. NYSE Euronext is in the S&P 500 index. For more information please visit https://www.nyx.com.
About AgroGeneration
AgroGeneration is a producer of grains and oilseeds in Ukraine, a region known for its fertile black plains that was once the bread basket of Europe. It is the first 100% agricultural business to list in Paris. Founded in 2007, the company has emerged as a contender to be reckoned with in the past four years; it operates six farms cultivating 51,000 hectares under guaranteed long-term leases. AgroGeneration is dedicated to sustainable farming and plans to duplicate its business model to cover 100,000 hectares of farmland in Ukraine and 50,000 in South America.