Today, the IIB paid out the first coupon on its 5-year bonds issued on the Bratislava Stock Exchange in October last year, when they spurred demand among investors from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Russia. The interest payment, in line with the annual rate of 3.5%, amounted to EUR 1.05 million. Tatra banka a.s., the initial lead manager of the issue, was the paying agent.

All funds, raised during the first bond placement outside of the country of IIB’s headquarters, were used to finance local projects. This allowed Slovakia to become the leader in the Bank’s investment portfolio by loans to corporates – according to IIB’s management report as of September 30, funds disbursed to Slovak companies exceeded EUR 45 million.

The bond placement programme for the Slovak market was registered for a total of EUR 50 million, EUR 30 million of which has been issued. Thus, the Bank has the option of an additional placement on the Bratislava Stock Exchange for a total of EUR 20 million. The IIB currently has a pipeline of promising investments, which it also plans to support with resources raised in a possible additional bond issue.

After completing its reform, the IIB has entered a stage of stable growth of its loan and investment activities. Since the launch of its long-term funding programme in April 2014, the Bank received long-term bilateral loans and issued securities for a total sum significantly surpassing EUR 300 million, which served as a basis for investments of more than EUR 400 million in the past three years.