The SIJ Group has successfully completed the third consecutive issue of short-term commercial papers in the amount of EUR 30 million

Ljubljana, Friday, 16 December 2016 – The SIJ Group has successfully completed the third consecutive issue of short-term commercial papers in the amount of EUR 30 million

With the payments made today, the SIJ Group has successfully completed the process of the third consecutive issue of commercial papers, in the amount of EUR 30 million. The commercial papers have a maturity of one year and an interest rate of 1.20%, the lowest annual interest rate achieved by any issuer when borrowing on the Slovenian capital market. The considerable interest shown by institutional and private investors has significantly exceeded the target value, clearly demonstrating their trust in the competitive position of the SIJ Group operations and the successful implementation of the Group's development strategy for the future.

The purpose of issuing the commercial papers was to spread current resources and optimize financing costs, as well as implement the strategy of ensuring the adequate liquidity of the SIJ Group. The accumulated assets will enable the Group to pay off last year's issue of commercial papers and provide adequate liquidity sources to balance its seasonal working capital requirements.

"The results achieved during the first nine months of this year show that the Group's operations remain stable and successful. The results achieved during the last two months in both fields of our activity – metallurgy and food – are in line with our predictions and expectations, which remain positive for 2017. By showing such strong interest in the current issue, Slovenia's largest institutional investors have reconfirmed their trust in the stability of our business model," said Igor Malevanov, the Vice-President of the Board of Directors and Financial Manager of the SIJ Group.
The activities related to organizing the issue and sale of the commercial papers were carried out by NLB d.d. The dematerialized 12-month commercial papers are registered in the central registry maintained by KDD – the Central Securities Clearing Corporation d. d., Ljubljana, under the code SIK03 and the ISIN code SI0032501700. The commercial papers will be listed on the regulated market of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange.

---

The SIJ Group is the largest Slovenian vertically integrated metallurgist group, ranked among the top market positions in the European and world niche steel markets. In addition to metallurgy (core business), the SIJ Group is also involved in the food industry (investment in Perutnina Ptuj) and employs a total of some 7,000 people in Slovenia and abroad. With products available on over 80 markets worldwide, the SIJ Group is one of Slovenia's largest employers and exporters.
In the first nine months of 2016, the SIJ Group has generated EUR 637.9 million in sales revenue (an increase of 20.6% compared to the same period last year), EBITDA in the amount of EUR 82.5 million (an increase of 48% compared to the same period last year), and a net profit of EUR 28.5 million.

More information:
Dr. Denis Mancevič, Director of Corporate Communications
E-mail: denis.mancevic@sij.si