Serbian oil company NIS, which is majority-owned by Russian GazpromNeft, is set to become the first company to issue a corporate bond on the Belgrade Stock Exchange as part of the Ministry of Finance’s efforts to revitalize Serbia’s capital market. The bond issuance will be discussed at the shareholders’ meeting scheduled for November 15.
For the issuance to be successful, there must be sufficient investor interest. Vladan Pavlovic, an analyst at Ipopema Securities, noted that since NIS cannot access international borrowing, the bond is likely to be offered at a slightly higher interest rate to domestic banks and potentially a broader group of investors. He suggested that an interest rate below 5% would be surprising, with expectations around 6% based on financial reports.
NIS has approximately €470 million in loans that need to be repaid over the next five years, indicating that the bond may be intended to refinance some of these obligations.
While the exact timing of the bond issuance remains unclear, the Ministry of Finance has announced this initiative along with other securities as part of its plan to stimulate Serbia’s capital market. Additionally, the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Serbian capital market is expected to debut in the first half of next year, with the first corporate bond issuance anticipated by the end of this year.
