Bulgarian-American Credit Bank (BACB) issued the sixth in a row mortgage bonds issue worth EUR 35 million. The Lead Manager of the issue – UniCredit Bulbank successfully finalized the sale of the issue to institutional investors yesterday.

The issue enjoyed a great investors' interest. This is the biggest issue of mortgage bonds, made by a Bulgarian bank so far.

The new BACB issue is for a period of three years and maturity on 29 July 2011. The coupon is fixed at 7.25% p.a., payable on a 6 month basis. The principal is fully payable on maturity. The issue is secured with mortgages-collateralized loans from the Bank’s portfolio. According to BACB information, the Bank plans to use the proceeds from the issue to refinance maturing liabilities and to finance its credit portfolio growth.

This has been the third mortgage bond issue by a Bulgarian bank since 2006. BACB’s good indicators and potential explained the investor interest in the issue.

About UniCredit Bulbank

UniCredit Bulbank is a Lead Investor Intermediary on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia. Last year the Bank was a Lead Manager of five public offerings, including three increases of public companies’ capital and two IPOs, as well as one public company’s capital increase in 2008. The Bank was awarded the Best Investment Bank in Bulgaria prize by Euromoney international magazine.

UniCredit Bulbank has the highest credit rating BBB+ in Bulgaria awarded by the prestigious Standard & Poor’s rating agency. The rating of the Bank is the same as the rating of the country.

About BACB

BACB is specialized in the provision of secured financing to small and medium-sized enterprises in Bulgaria with separate credit programs for financing SMEs in various sectors of the economy, including tourism and construction works. According to the information published by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), as of December 2007 BACB has been the 18-th bank in Bulgaria in terms of total assets, 12-th in terms of capital and over the last years has reported the biggest return on assets from all Bulgarian banks included in the BNB statistical data. BACB AD has been awarded by Standard & Poor's a BB/Watch Positive/B credit rating. BACB AD is the third public company on the BSE Sofia in terms of capitalization.