SIC seeking small investors for funding at rate of 4.5%
SIC is now issuing 30M€ in bonds to attract small retail investors at a rate of 4.5% with a 3-year maturity.
Ever thought about investing in a Television network? SIC, the first independent TV station and third terrestrial channel in Portugal, is now issuing 30M€ in bonds to attract small retail investors at a rate of 4.5% with a 3-year maturity.
“The offer could go up to 1,000,000 bonds with a nominal value of 30 euros and a global value of 30,000,000 euros”, as referred in a statement sent to the Portuguese Securities Market Authority. Can I hold a TV bond for just 30 euros? Not quite. “Each subscription (…) must correspond to, at least, 50 SIC 2019-2022 bonds, representing a minimum investment amount of 1,500 euros”.
The aim of this operation is to diversify investment sources and to expand the average maturity debt of SIC, explaining the 3-years maturity. In each of those three years, the TV network is going to reimburse investors with a rate of 4.5%, higher than that offered by TAP. Investing 1,500 euros, for example, will generate a return of 202.50 euros in gross rates.
But this was not the first time SIC has tried to issue bonds. Last year, SIC issued 35M€ in bonds to cover a bond loan that was maturing but failed to be successful. This led Impresa, the publishing group that owns SIC and Expresso, to sell its Headquarters in Paço de Arcos, Oeiras, for 24.2M€.
The subscription offer will be available to everyone between the 17th of June to the 4th of July of 2019.
Impresa loses 1.2M€ this first trimester
Impresa registered a loss of 1.2M€ in the first trimester of the year, doubling the losses relative to the same period of 2018. Recent investments in new studios and new technologies are the reasons used by the group to account for the results.
In a statement to ECO, last month, Francisco Pedro Balsemão, Impresa’s CEO, said the company was committed to “present better results in 2019 by not only increasing the EBITDA margin but also the net results”. Focusing on debt reduction was also a goal stressed by the CEO for this year.