17th February 2023, Skopje – Next auction on the ninth Eurobond of the Republic of North Macedonia will amount to EUR 600 million. Investors previously bidding therefor, are interested in participating at the auction again, which will take place immediately upon electing the new Minister of Justice. From a legal aspect, repeating the auction is also in favor of the investors, thus, the claims spread among the public that certain penalties will be paid therefor, are false, as pointed out by Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi, in an interview for the national MTV 1 TV Channel.
By clarifying the reason for postponing the Eurobond issuance, he pointed out that Minister of Justice’s opinion could not be requested earlier, since as per the procedure, 5 working days are required for settlement of the Eurobond, from the date of auction, i.e. the issuance of the Eurobond. He stated that they were in continuous communication with the institutions, the agents and the investors, thus, the most optimal decision, in terms of adhering to the procedure, is repeating the action.
“We have an outstanding consortium of banks, supporting us on the financial markets for 20 years now. We were constantly communicating the investors, the respective information was also published on Bloomberg Platform, whereby press release was immediately announced. In such case, repeating the auction rather than leaving a legal vacuum in terms of the opinion validity is the most convenient for the investors. The damage from issuing invalid document would have been much heavier, which the investors recognize and appreciate,” Besimi said.
Minister pointed out that most of the investors registered on the previous auction are those already having purchased our Eurobonds, and they are still interested in subscribing the ninth Eurobond, thus expecting for the next auction to be successful as well. As for the interest, he said that he would rather not make any speculations since it depends on the international markets.
“I have heard some comments that the Eurobond was traded on the secondary market. This is not true, since it was not issued at all, i.e. the investors did not own the Eurobond so as to be able to trade it”, Besimi said, thus denying the rumors that penalties should be paid to the investors.
The Eurobond proceeds will be used to refinance the 2016 Eurobond, falling due in July, thus, there is sufficient time to complete the Eurobond issue process.
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