Storent raises €12.96m from Baltic investors — at a 10% coupon

Latvia-based equipment rental group Storent Europe has raised €12.96 million in a public bond offering across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, exceeding its initially planned €10 million issue.

The 3.5-year bonds carry a fixed annual coupon of 10%. Retail investors accounted for around 70% of total demand and institutional investors for 30%.

Among retail investment by value, Latvia accounted for 68%, Estonia for 21% and Lithuania for 11%. Estonia nevertheless produced the largest number of retail investors, with around 51% of the total.

The new funding will be used both for further growth and to refinance bonds maturing in September.

That refinancing is not yet complete. Across three exchange offers, investors converted around 48% of the eligible old bonds into new securities. Storent still has €5.24 million of the previous issue to repay at maturity on September 21.

The result shows that a Latvian company can raise sizeable funding across the Baltic retail capital market. It also shows the price: despite strong demand, Storent is still paying a 10% coupon for 3.5-year money.