PhosAgro successfully places USD 100 million rouble-denominated bond issue

PJSC PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), a Russian vertically integrated company and one of the world’s leading producers of phosphate-based fertilizers, announces that on 3 June 2024 it successfully closed the order book for its USD 100 million rouble-denominated exchange-traded bond issue.

The series BO-P01-USD bonds have been issued for a term of 5 years at a quarterly coupon rate of 6.25% per annum.

Despite increased volatility in the Russian capital market across all securities, including the cancellation of a number of offerings, the company managed to lower the initial coupon rate benchmark by 25 basis points during the book-building process, achieving a final level of 6.25%. The bond issue was carried out at 10–15 basis points below the current yields on the secondary market for bonds comparable to PhosAgro’s with shorter maturity.

The transaction is in line with PhosAgro’s debt policy of raising financing in foreign currency, enabling the company to secure borrowings against foreign currency proceeds on significantly more favourable terms than the current rouble rates.

Previously, in April 2023, PhosAgro conducted a placement in Chinese currency amounting to CNY 2 billion for a 3-year term with a floating coupon rate tied to the China Loan Prime Rate + 1.2%, which is currently one of the most favourable borrowing terms in yuan on the Russian bond market.

The placement of the exchange-traded bonds is scheduled to commence on 6 June 2024 on Moscow Exchange, and the bonds have been included in the first-level quotation list of securities admitted to trading at PJSC Moscow Exchange. Gazprombank is acting as arranger and placement agent.