Corporate bonds & promissory note loans at a glance
By issuing a bond, companies can generate long-term funds that are charged interest on an annual basis if they have a fixed interest rate (this is the norm) or a semi-annual or quarterly basis if they have a variable rate, and they are only repaid at the end of the term. Apart from normal market costs, an important benefit of this kind of financing is that a bond issue broadens the company’s financing portfolio, preserves credit lines at core banks, and therefore increases flexibility in the event of short-term liquidity demands. Not least, there is also a publicity side-effect associated with launching a bond, which can be exploited for marketing purposes.
Companies with total balance sheet assets greater than EUR 200 million. The companies should be well-known, have a solid credit rating and/or a marketable "investment story".
Thanks to its integration in the globally active UniCredit Group, Bank Austria is able to structure and place domestic bonds as well as high-volume international bonds. Our issue experts are familiar with all types of issues, whether private placements or public bonds, as well as with traditional forms of bonds (fixed and variable-interest bonds), hybrid forms of bonds (convertibles, hybrids), and structured bonds (callable, index-linked bonds, CMS structures). The optimal product is developed based on the financing requirement of the company and what the bond proceeds will be used for.
In addition to the types of bonds listed above, promissory note loans can also be placed on both the Austrian and international markets. These are loans with fixed and/or variable interest with standardised documentation, which are offered at multiple maturities during a marketing period of several weeks to institutional investors (banks, funds, insurance companies).
Analysis, defining terms and conditions, contract preparations, and the processing and sale of an issue are carried out and coordinated by an issues specialist at Bank Austria, working together with an expert team at UniCredit.
In addition to an issue volume of at least EUR 50 million (bond) or EUR 20 million (promissory note), the prerequisites for making a bond “suitable for the capital market” are above all the willingness to undergo “due diligence” (during which the issuing company’s overall business and legal situations are audited) and corporate analysis and to provide transparency with respect to company numbers and strategy.