RCS&RDS could issue bonds worth 200m dollars

RCS&RDS, the largest telecom company held by a Romanian owner, which has expanded into several countries in the region, will discuss on December 22nd, in an extraordinary meeting of shareholders, a bond issue worth a maximum of 200 million dollars.
Bonds will be offered for subscription to international investors, including to qualified international investors, and will also be available for trading on international capital markets.
RCS tried to raise between 400 and 600 million dollars from floatation on the London Stock Exchange back in 2007, but ended up taking out a record-high loan, worth 500 million dollars, from ING and Citi. RCS&RDS had 567 million euros in overall debt at the end of last year.
The company needs money both for its debt and for investments, after the acquisition of Zapp by Cosmote left RCS&RDS alone among giants Orange, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom / OTE.
RCS’s biggest shareholders are Oradea-based Zoltan Teszari (a 43% stake), and investment funds Quadrant (20%) and EPIC (5%).
The RCS&RDS group, one of the biggest providers of telecom services in the region, has come to be the second-largest player on the television services market in Hungary, with a 24% market share, according to data published by the regulating authority in Budapest.
The biggest rivals of the Romanian company on the Hungarian market are UPC and Deutsche Telekom (T-Home), which hold 32 and 20% respectively on a market put at 2.5 million clients.
Cable TV is the dominant technology in Hungary, with over 1.7 million clients. The largest player on the cable TV market is UPC – with 800,100 clients, followed by Deutsche Telekom – 365,000 clients, and RCS&RDS – 200,000 users.
The Romanian group, however, strongly dominates the market of satellite TV services, which it entered at the beginning of 2006. RCS&RDS accounts for 53% of the almost 750,000 clients of satellite television services (392,000 users) and is followed by UPC with 182,900 clients and Deutsche Telekom, with over 120,000 clients.