New Corporate Bond at the Athens Stock Exchange Listing and Admission to Trading of the Coral Corporate Bond

The Athens Stock Exchange welcomed today the Coral oil company, in the context of the listing and admission to trading of its Corporate Bond on the ATHEX Regulated Market. A total of 90,000 common bearer bonds of the Company with a nominal value of €1,000 each have been allocated and €90,000,000 have been raised at a 3.00% interest rate.
This is the tenth consecutive corporate bond to be listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, with these companies raising significant amounts of capital at interest rates ranging between 3.10 and 5.5%.

Petros Tzannetakis, Deputy Managing Director of MOTOR OIL, rang the traditional bell during the opening bell ceremony of the Athens Stock Exchange, to be followed by a presentation of Coral by its General Manager, Giorgos Hatzopoulos.

Sokratis Lazaridis, CEO of the Athens Exchange Group, welcomed the Management of the company and the guests of the event, noting that: “Starting in July 2016 until today, a total of ten corporate bonds amounting to €876.5 million have been issued. The fact that we now have a representative sample of issuances by companies in different industries with different activities, as well as a variety in the volumes of the issued securities, solidifies our conviction that the Greek corporate bond market can serve as a useful channel giving businesses access to liquidity.

Moreover, the fact that the overall interest expressed by investors who took part in the Public Offering exceeded by 3.8 times the value of the offered securities shows that there is both liquidity and potential in this market, when companies and underwriters cooperate and present attractive proposals”.

During the opening bell ceremony, the Deputy Managing Director of MOTOR OIL, Mr. Petros Tzannetakis, after thanking everyone who participated in the bond issuance project, stated: “The successful issue of the CORAL S.A. bonds confirms investors’ trust in the MOTOR OIL Group, which embarked on its own journey in the Athens Stock Exchange in 2001. The listing and trading of the CORAL bonds on the Stock Market, enhances the Company’s already high visibility and marks the consolidation of corporate governance practices in a manner that is assured over time. Essentially, this leads to an objective operation of the largest subsidiary of MOTOR OIL through the Athens Stock Exchange”.

The Chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, Mr. Charalambos Gotsis, on the subject of the corporate bond listing had the following to say: “The Hellenic Capital Market Commission welcomes the listing of the Coral bonds on the Corporate Bonds platform of the Athens Stock Exchange.

The introduction of yet another €90 million bond in the newly founded market shows that our country’s healthy businesses have embraced the new institution, which is essentially an alternative to banks capital raising source.

By accepting a 3% interest rate, investors are tangibly demonstrating their trust in the company and are contributing towards improving its competitiveness through the reduction of its financial cost. Along with Coral we will be anticipating other issuances, mainly from small and medium-sized enterprises which encounter difficulties in raising capital.