Norofert announces a corporate bond issuance of up to RON 15 million to support strategic investments

 

 

Bucharest, October 8^th, 2024 – Norofert, the leading producer of organic agricultural inputs and biotechnology provider for agriculture in Romania, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange on the AeRO market (BVB symbol: NRF), announces the approval of the Board of Directors to conduct a public offering of corporate bonds, valued at up to RON 15 million.

The decision comes in the context of the company’s strategy to attract additional financing for investments in expanding the irrigation system at the Zimnicea farm and its operations in external markets in the USA and Brazil, where the company has been active since this year.

 

Vlad Popescu, President of the Board of Directors, Norofert:

“We aim to diversify our funding sources through a new issuance of corporate bonds, our second initiative of this type. This issuance, approved by the General Shareholders’ Meeting in April 2024, is intended to strengthen our position in the Romanian market and internationally. The funds raised will be used for strategic investments, including the expansion of the irrigation infrastructure at the Zimnicea farm and increasing production capacities for external markets.”

 

The details of the offering:

 

• The offering will include up to 150,000 nominative, dematerialized, unsecured, and non-convertible bonds, with a nominal value of RON 100 per bond;
• Bondholders will benefit from a fixed annual nominal coupon rate of 10%, with semi-annual payments, and the maturity of these bonds is set at 5 years;
• Early redemption is possible after the first year of issuance, offering a “clean” redemption price of 101% if the redemption takes place in the second year, and 100.5% if it takes place in the third year.

 

The public offering will run for 10 business days, with the possibility of early closure. The success condition of the offering is the subscription of a minimum of 50,000 bonds, which represents the equivalent of RON 5 million. TradeVille S.A. intermediated the offer.

 

The company’s first corporate bond issuance (with the symbol NRF25) had a value of RON 11.5 million, matures in 2025, and has a fixed annual coupon rate of 8.5%, payable semi-annually.

 

Norofert recorded a turnover of RON 21.04 million in the first half of the year, a 4.27% increase compared to the same period in 2023, and a net profit of RON 1.85 million, down from the same period in 2023, but above the budgeted level for the current year.

 

About Norofert:

 

Norofert is the leader in regenerative agriculture research and one of the largest producers of inputs in Romania, founded in 2000 by the Popescu family. While expanding the production facilities to support sustainable agricultural practices internationally, Norofert demonstrates commitment to climate neutrality and the ability to innovate in an area crucial to the future of agriculture and food security.

 

With a mix of business lines, Norofert has developed its production capacities in recent years in inputs and agricultural farming, lines that will see development in the coming years. With 65 products in its portfolio, the company caters to conventional and organic farmers, with a new niche of liquid conventional products in growing demand.

 

From 2020, the company is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s AeRO market, and from October 2021, Norofert shares are included in the BETAeRO index. During the four years of activity in the capital market, Norofert raised RON 14 million through capital increases and RON 11.5 million through a private placement of corporate bonds. The company’s corporate bonds are traded​ ​on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange under the symbol NRF25 starting June 5th, 2020.

 

For more information, we invite you to visit www.norofert.ro.