The Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA) approved last week the prospectus for the issuance of corporate bonds by Credins Bank.
According to the decision, Credins will issue new corporate bonds for amounts of 2 million EUR, 500 thousand USD and 400 million ALL.
According to the prospectus of the issuer, the corporate bonds will be convertible into shares of Credins Bank. This implies that the buyer may choose to receive bank shares instead of the bond repayment.
Issuance of corporate bonds is a practice that Credins Bank has been pursuing for five years now, becoming the first company in the Albanian market to apply borrowing through financial market instruments.
Until now, issuance of corporate bonds was made with a private placement and only offered to buyers selected by the bank. This is mainly as a result of not having an Exchange in Albania that would allow the issuance of securities with a public offering and their trading in an organized market. However, the growth of corporate debt issuance is an indication that the stock market is becoming more and more a need for the financial market. In the last years, besides Credins Bank, Fondi Besa and Balfin Group have also issued debt instruments through a private placement. The market is waiting for the licensing of the first private securities exchange in Albania, as the application has been submitted to the Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority almost a year ago.