27 June 2018

Event at the Athens Stock Exchange: New Corporate Bond in the Athens Stock Exchange

Listing and Admission to Trading of the B&F Corporate Bond

Today the Athens Stock Exchange welcomed the B&F Group of companies, in the context of the listing and admission to trading of its corporate bond in the Regulated Market of the Athens Stock Exchange.

Sofia Bithara, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, and Vassilis Bitharas, Vice-chairman of the BoD & CEO of B&F rang the traditional bell during the opening bell ceremony of the Athens Stock Exchange.

A total of 25,000 common, bearer bonds of the company with a nominal value of €1,000 each have been allocated and €25,000,000 has been raised, at a 4.95% interest rate.

This is the eleventh corporate bond in a row to be listed in the Athens Stock Exchange, with these companies raising significant funds at rates ranging between 3.10% and 5.5%.

Nikos Porfyris, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at that Athens Exchange Group, after congratulating the company's management, the underwriters and the investment firms, noted: "This is the fourth in a row corporate bond of 2018, and the eleventh since 2016, with issues totalling at 901.5 million euros. The growing diversion in sectors and activities, as well as the variety in the sizes of the issued securities, reaffirm our conviction that the Greek corporate bond market is a stable and useful source of liquidity for businesses".

The Chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, Professor Charalampos Gotsis, made the following comments about the listing of the corporate bond: "The Corporate Bond trading platform this time is being enhanced with securities issued by a small-medium sized producer enterprise, B&F Garments".

The 25 million that were successfully raised highlight the Company's significant prospect for growth, while providing investors with a good opportunity to get good yields for their money.

Everyone's expectation is that more small- and medium-sized enterprises will follow on this track, tapping into the opportunities offered by the new market."

During the opening bell ceremony, Giorgos Bitharas, G&F's General Director of Financial & Administrative Services stated: "On this opportunity, with the admission to trading of our bond, I would like to wholeheartedly thank the investors, Piraeus Bank, Euroxx Securities, the Investment Bank of Greece, as well as the other underwriters for their trust, which is helping us turn our vision into a reality.

The successful issue of the bond was the outcome of the hard work put in by the Company's Management, as well as a vote of confidence in the B&F Group.

This success marks a new chapter for our Group, while also paving the way by opening new prospects for healthy and dynamic businesses of a similar size to raise funds". 

Download the Press Release

Opening Bell Ceremony
Giorgos Bitharas G&F's General Director of Financial & Administrative Services		Sofia Bithara Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Vassilis Bitharas Vice-chairman of the BoD & CEO of B&F.

About the issue of the corporate bond

Coordinators and Bookrunners were PIRAEUS BANK S.A., the INVESTMENT BANK OF GREECE S.A. and EUROXX SECURITIES S.A. Underwriters of the Public Offer were BETA SECURITIES and CYCLOS SECURITIES S.A. Advisor was Euroxx Securities

A total of 25,000 common, bearer bonds of the company with a nominal value of €1,000 each have been allocated and €25,000,000 have been raised.

These are 5-year bonds with a 4.95% interest rate.

The total demand and the number of investors that took part in the Public Offer were €26 million and 703 respectively, covering the Public Offer by 1.04 times.

The Bonds were allocated as follows: a) 13,652 Bonds (54.6% of the total) to Private Investors from a total of 13,652 bonds for which there was demand and b) 11,348 Bonds (45.4% of the total) to Qualified Investors from a total of 12,348 Bonds for which there was demand, meeting 91.9% of the demand. Also, from the 11,348 Bonds allocated to Institutions Investors, the Underwriters received for their own account 7,918 Bonds.

The process was carried out through the Electronic Book Building service of the Athens Stock Exchange.

More information about the issue can be found on the Athens Stock Exchange website at this link.

About the B&F Group

The B&F Group, counting more than 38 years of experience and knowledge, is today one of the largest and most dynamic Groups in the field of women's garments in Greece, with a presence in another 20 countries globally and constantly growing annual sales and market share.

The state-of-the-art facilities, that include the offices, design rooms, show rooms, warehouses, part of the production processes, as well as the administrative activities of the Group are located in the 22,000 square meter buildings in Nea Filadelfia.  The core Group activities involve the design, third-party construction and trade of women's garments, shoes and accessories of the BSB and Lynne brands.

The B&F Group is "dynamically growing" as a leader among multinational clothing companies, with a steady expansion in Greece, and an ongoing penetration of markets abroad, through two subsidiary companies in Romania and Cyprus, and through representatives in the Central European markets.

The Group in recent years has been clearly export-oriented, with 20% of its income already generated by sales outside of Greece.

The BSB and Lynne network of stores reach a total of 147, 106 of which are in Greece and 41 abroad.

You can find more about the Group at  www.bandfgroup.com.