Bond issue snapped up within hours

A €13 million bond issue (about Lm5.6 million) was snapped up within hours of its launch yesterday.

The bonds, launched by Mariner Finance plc, a subsidiary of Mariner SPA, are guaranteed by the assets of Mariner SPA, which has a 50 per cent share holding in the largest terminal of the port of Venice and wholly owns the Baltic Container company (BCT) of Riga, Latvia.

Mariner Group chairman Marin Hili, a former chairman of Malta Freeport, said: "It is a great source of satisfaction for us that both individual investors as well as financial institutions have shown total confidence in this project.

"The fact that the original bond issue and the over-allotment option were taken up within such a short time augurs well for the future of the group."

BCT owns some 55.7 hectares of land within the Riga Freeport territory, as well as 15,000 square metres of warehouse space and 280,000 square metres of open storage space.

In the port of Venice, Mariner has half the shares in Terminal Intermodale Venezia SpA (TIV), which has a 25-year concession which expires in 2023. TIV manages five quays, 11 warehouses and approximately 261,300 square metres of land.

The company issued a E9 million bond issue and retained the option to increase it to €13 million if, during the offering period, more applications were received. The closing date was meant to be July 4 but applications stopped being received yesterday as the issue was taken up soon after it was launched.

The allocation policy to be adopted by the company will be announced shortly.