Ljubljana, 30 October (STA) - Following a successful issuance in the Japanese market last year, Slovenia is planning a new yen-denominated debt offering. Today, it mandated four banks for a so-called "Samurai" bond issue and has begun to gauge interest from potential investors. The issuance is planned for the near future, subject to conducive market conditions.
Slovenia has mandated Daiwa, Mizuho, Nomura, and SMBC Nikko for the issue, the Finance Ministry said. The bonds are expected to have a three-year maturity.
The ministry did not specify the planned size of the issue. It said only that the proceeds will be used exclusively to finance or refinance budget expenditures that fall under the category of eligible social projects, in line with the country's sustainable bond framework.
Slovenia issued its first bonds in the Japanese currency in August last year. This consisted of three-year bonds with a 0.75% annual coupon and five-year bonds with a 0.89% coupon. The total value of the issuance was 50 billion yen, or approximately EUR 311 million.
The Finance Ministry is also considering a debut issuance of government bonds denominated in Chinese yuan. Last week, Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič sounded out interest for these "Panda" bonds in the Chinese market.
During a working visit to Beijing, he met with his Chinese counterpart, Lan Fo'an, the governor of the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, and representatives of Chinese banks that could potentially participate in the issuance.
According to the ministry, Slovenia aims to broaden its investor base and diversify its sources of funding with the Panda bond issue.
This was also confirmed by Boštjančič in a recent interview with the Financial Times. He described the planned issuance of up to five billion yuan (EUR 605 million) as part of a strategy to further open the Slovenian economy amid escalating trade tensions and shifts in industrial policy in the US and China.
