MeDirect retires old bonds as €30m subordinated issue starts trading
MeDirect has listed €30 million in new bonds on the MSE after an exchange offer that cleared out its 2017 debt lines.
MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc has started trading €30 million in new bonds on the Malta Stock Exchange after completing an exchange offer and redeeming earlier securities.
The 5.85% unsecured subordinated bonds, maturing between 2031 and 2036, were admitted to the Official List on 13 October, with trading beginning the following day.
To make way for the new issue, the bank cancelled €9.88 million of bonds issued in 2017 and €19.30 million of its 2019 euro bond issue. It also redeemed the remaining 2017 euro bonds early and all outstanding 2017 sterling bonds, leaving none of its 2017 issuance in circulation.
MeDirect still has €12.90 million in 2019 euro bonds and £2.42 million in 2019 sterling bonds outstanding. Those are expected to be redeemed on 5 November.
Investors who accepted the exchange offer receive their new bonds under the bank's allocation policy, with interest calculated up to 13 October.
The transaction is a refinancing exercise rather than fresh borrowing. Bondholders are being moved from older, shorter-dated paper into a single longer-dated subordinated instrument, which changes the risk profile of their holding because subordinated debt ranks behind other creditors.
For the local market, the listing adds another corporate bond to the MSE's Official List at a yield of 5.85%. That gives investors a liquid way to hold MeDirect credit through the mid-2030s.
With the 2017 lines fully retired and the remaining 2019 paper set to follow in November, MeDirect is clearing away its older debt structure and replacing it with a cleaner, longer-dated capital stack.