More than half a year removed from squelching a run at a stock market listing, Volvo Cars raised 600 million euros, or $677 million, with a new bond issue on Tuesday.
The new issue is the second in the last year for the Swedish/Chinese automaker, which is owned by China’s Geely, as it looks to find ways to fund its ongoing development of battery-electric cars and self-driving vehicles.
Volvo said on the Tuesday the bond would mature in April 2024, pay a fixed coupon of 2.125% and have an issue price was 99.625, equating to a yield of 2.205% and a Euro mid-swap of plus 215 basis points. The settlement was expected to be April 2, and the bonds would be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, Volvo said.
A spokeswoman for Volvo, which is owned by China’s Geely, said the money raised would be used for corporate purposes, Reuters reported. It is the second time this year the company has gone to the bond market since a planned IPO was aborted.
(Volvo backs out of IPO due to trade and market conditions. Click Here for the story.)
In late February, the company sold $215 million in bonds. At the time, CEO Hakan Samuelsson said this month that external finance was needed to support the development of electric cars and that Volvo was talking to Chinese and U.S. tech investors.
In November, Volvo Samuelsson ruled out a bond issue in the short term because of turbulent markets. The automaker has kicked around the stock offering for much of the last two years, Samuelsson broaching the subject to a German publication in early 2017.
(Click Here for more about a potential IPO from Aston Martin.)
It was back on the schedule last fall; however, ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China as well as a less-than-robust period for auto stocks forced Volvo Cars to put off its initial public offering. Volvo Cars, which is owned by China-based Geely, previously announced it was considering the IPO to help raise funds for additional research and expanding of production.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that the timing is not optimal for an IPO right now,” Volvo Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson told Reuters at the time.
(To see more about Geely’s moves with Volvo, Click Here.)
Volvo and Geely suggested earlier that an IPO by the automaker could raise between $16 billion and $30 billion. The company said a listing was still possible in the future.
