Friday, November 30 2012 17:09
SAS retail chain issues foreign exchange bonds at 10.1% yield
ArmInfo. SAS Group LLC, the owner of the SAS retail chain, is issuing foreign exchange coupon bonds worth 7 mln USD at 10.1% yield. Stepan Sahakyan, the head of the retail chain, said at a press conference that the maturity is 2 years, and the coupon profit is paid once every 6 months.
The bonds will be placed from 6 Dec 2012 till 10 Jan 2013. The retail chain will spend the funds attracted from the market on expansion and development of the SAS network of supermarkets, Sahakyan said. New shops will be opened both in the center and remote districts of Yerevan. Sahakyan stressed that every individual can make use of the company's offer regardless of his/her investment capacities.
Ameriabank is the underwriter of the issue. Arno Mosikyan, Head of the Investment Operations Department of Ameriabank, said that investors from Switzerland, Russia and other countries with large Armenian communities have shown interest in the bonds.
As regards possible holding of IPO by the retail chain, Mosikyan said that the issue of corporate bonds is the company's first step towards implementation of more serious projects in the capital market. "The logical continuation of this step will be the public issue of the company's shares", he said. The specialist stressed that the presence in the market of corporate bonds helps the issuers to find effective instruments to manage their debt. "All the issuers should differentiate the capacities of the banking sector from those of the capital market", he said. By establishing partner relations with a great number of investors, the issuers increase the number of potential partners and thereby create a good floor for IPO.
He also stressed that the issue of foreign exchange bonds will help the company to save its resources, because "if the company had applied banking technologies, it would have spent more funds".
According to the Ranking of Retail and Service Enterprises of Armenia by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), in 2011 the assets of SAS Group totaled 7.9 bln AMD, the company's own capital totaled 933.3 mln AMD. The pre-tax profit of the company amounted to 108.2 mln AMD, proceeds - 28.9 bln AMD, authorized capital - 825 050 thsd AMD.
To recall, the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia took the decision on issue of foreign exchange bonds on 20 June 2012 to enliven the market of corporate bonds after the downturn caused by the crisis and growth of currency risks.
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