Finnair announces new €400mn bond

Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa) has issued a senior unsecured bond of EUR400 million euros (USD486 million), it announced in a statement on May 10. The four‑year bond, which matures on May 19, 2025, carries a fixed annual interest of 4.25% and has an issue price equal to 99.716%. The carrier said that application would be made for the bond to be admitted to trading on the official list of the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange. The proceeds of the offering, for which Danske Bank and Nordea are the bookrunners, will be used to fund the purchase of existing notes due in 2022, while the remaining proceeds will be for general corporate purposes. As previously reported, on May 5, Finnair invited holders of its outstanding EUR200 million (USD243 million) 2.25% notes due in 2022 to tender any or all of their notes for cash, an offer that closes at 1600L (1300Z) on May 12. The bond is the Finnish flag carrier’s first since it issued a EUR200 million hybrid bond in early September 2020, which offered investors a 10.25% coupon rate rising to 15.25% – the first bond sale by a European airline since the pandemic began. “The new bond will strengthen our cash funds and helps us to improve our debt maturity profile,” said Finnair CFO Mika Stirkkinen, who thanked investors for allowing the company “to double [the bond’s] size compared to the previous one.”