Agroserv Mariuta SA, the company behind the Laptaria cu Caimac brand, has successfully completed a private placement of bonds, raising EUR 3 million, maturing in 2025 and carrying an interest rate of 5.25%. The bonds will be listed on the Multilateral Trading System of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Laptaria cu Caimac is the first business in the dairy sector to list bonds on BVB’s AeRO market.

In the private placement, the company offered 20,000 unsecured, non-convertible bonds with a nominal value of EUR 100 each, with the offer addressed to up to 150 investors. The placement was oversubscribed and the offer was increased, raising a total of EUR 3 million at 5.25%, the lowest cost of funding achieved in 2020 for similar bond offerings. A total of 94 investors subscribed, both individuals and institutional investors.

BT Capital Partners (BTCP), the investment banking and capital markets arm of the Banca Transilvania Financial Group, acted as Intermediary and Authorized Adviser for the transaction. Since 2019, BTCP has arranged seven corporate bond issues and three M&A transactions worth over EUR 300 million.

Adrian Cocan, Project Manager at Laptaria cu Caimac, said: “With this stage in our business’s development we saw strong interest from investors. From the opening of the private placement, everything went very well and the offer was oversubscribed, which can only make us happy. This is an important step for the projects we want to carry out over the period ahead, and the feedback we received from investors makes us consider mapping out a path to future financing via the capital market.”

“We are pleased to have successfully supported Laptaria cu Caimac in this capital-raising process, which secures financing for the company’s ambitious development plans. We are also glad to have facilitated investors’ access to unique investment opportunities and, despite this challenging period, we continue to contribute to the development of the business environment.”, said Daniela Secara, CEO of BT Capital Partners.

The next step is to prepare the documents required for admitting the bonds to trading on the Multilateral Trading System of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Laptaria cu Caimac aims for the first trading day to take place within a month, under the ticker MILK25E.

”Agroserv Mariuta is a story of Romanian entrepreneurship in which two generations come together, taking the company to the next level. The successful completion of the private placement validates two things: that the stock exchange is a viable channel for financing companies and that the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s Made in Romania program is useful for the companies that have taken part in it.We look forward to ringing the BVB bell for the bond listing as soon as possible, and later on, for the share listing as well”, said Radu Hanga, Chairman of the Board of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The funds obtained from the bond listing will be used to develop the factory, expand the production line and build a new warehouse. “We already have 14 products launched, which reached Germany this month, and customer appetite is increasing, so the factory is entering a new phase of growth. The most urgent investment is expanding the production line and the existing warehouse. We will launch two new product categories, cheese and butter, which we hope to have on shelves in the autumn of next year”, added Adrian Cocan. In parallel, Laptaria cu Caimac will undertake two other investments: building a biogas plant, and a system for recovering and reusing glass. “We have been growing at a fast pace, so we are continuously exploring new sources of financing. We want all three investment projects to materialize and help us grow. We have already drafted the project for the bottle-washing facility and have submitted it for evaluation for funding, and our hope is to begin construction of the packaging-washing facility in 2021. Also, in 2022 we hope to start building the biogas plant and thus, in 2024, for the company to be on a clear path to becoming carbon neutral”, added Adrian Cocan. The investments planned for the coming years amount to EUR 16 million.