Listed companies choose credits over capital increases

The low appetite for investments on the Stock Exchange has deterred companies from raising money from the market via capital increases, resorting instead to bank credits to cover their funding requirements. Over the last three months, companies listed on the Stock Exchange turned predominantly to bank loans to fund their investments, after fewer and fewer companies resorted to capital increases via cash payment through bond sales. According to statistics compiled by ZF, in the first three months of the year alone, 15 small and medium-sized companies, mainly listed on the RASDAQ market, attracted or voiced their intentions to take out new credits worth over 230 million euros in total. On the other hand, the number of companies on the market currently undergoing capital increases through cash payment is significantly lower than last year, after the planned credits saw a significant decline. “Investors are no longer willing to buy shares and bonds, because they entail a higher degree of risk. Under the current market conditions, investors are reticent towards risky instruments,” says Horia Simu, chairman of Cuprom Bucuresti, one of the main shareholders of mineral water producer Lipomin Lipova, which has recently opted for credits worth 17 million euros, over a 20 million-euro bond issuing.