The five-year bonds will be used to refinance commercial papers issued in June 2006, which were utilized for the construction of two new ships that currently connect Split and Supetar as well as Zadar and Preko. The arranger of the issuance is Erste Bank.
Jadrolinija, the largest Croatian passenger transport company, has presented to investors five-year obveznice intended to refinance commercial papers issued in June of last year, with the funds having been spent on the construction of two new ships – Hrvat and Juraj Dalmatinac – which already connect Dalmatian cities and islands.
– Since 2004, we have built nine new ships for fleet renewal, six of which were built in Croatian shipyards, reducing the average age of the fleet from 26.5 to 19 years, which is below the European average. This year, we have already transported 9.5 million passengers and 2.5 million vehicles, and our vision is to maintain our leading position in the country and modernize the fleet – said Slavko Lončar, CEO of Jadrolinija.
He emphasized that the company’s strategy will be based on increasing capacity while reducing the number of ships, thereby increasing profitability. Plans are to increase the capacity of the future fleet to 30,000 passengers and 4,000 vehicles (currently 26,000 passengers and 2,600 vehicles), rationalize operations through a reduction in the number of employees (contracts will be terminated for some fixed-term workers), and introduce new lines when the far south connects with the highway.
The CEO of Erste Bank, Petar Radaković, expressed satisfaction that Jadrolinija chose them as the arrangers of the issuance.
