PhosAgro Successfully Places Debut Rouble-Denominated Bonds with Twofold Oversubscription and Lowest Differential to Federal Bond Yields among Russian Issuers

Moscow – PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, successfully completed the book build for its debut issue of rouble-denominated exchange-traded bonds in the amount of RUB 20 billion.

The bonds, which have a par value of RUB 1,000 and maturity in three years, were placed on Moscow Exchange. They have a coupon yield of 9.4% per annum, to be paid every six months.

The bonds are included in Moscow Exchange’s Level 1 quotation list. The rating agencies Expert RA and ACRA assigned the issue a credit rating of ruAAA (EXP) and eAAA (RU), respectively.

Investors showed a high degree of interest in the placement of the Company’s rouble-denominated bonds. The order book received about 50 orders in an aggregate amount of more than RUB 40 billion from management companies, banks, insurance and investment companies, as well as private investors.

The more than twofold oversubscription on the bonds enabled the Company to revise the coupon rate benchmark downward three times and achieve the lowest spread among corporate issuers to the yield of Russian federal loan bonds (OFZ) – 89 bps.

Settlements on the transaction took place today, 21 April 2023, on Moscow Exchange. The lead manager and placement agent for the bond issue was Gazprombank.

Mikhail Rybnikov, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of PhosAgro, said: “We are pleased with the result, having obtained affordable financing from the market on the best terms to enable us to implement our development programmes and refinance our loan portfolio.”