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OPAP, Greece’s leading gaming and lottery company aims to raise up to 200m through a bond issue in order to finance it’s investment of 35.000 VLTs.
The bond issue, is expected to roll out until the end of March, not only will provide the state-run with much needed liquidity in a cash-starved economy, but will also act as a vote of confidence, just before the launch of the much-anticipated VLT operation.
Last November, OPAP announced a large scale investment plan, centered around 35.000 VLT machines that will be installed throughout the country, raising expectation for high returns.
The VLT project, as well as the (expected) high yield of the corporate bond have already caused significant interest both in the local and the international investing community. Market sources claim that the issue is “expected to be fully leveraged by institutional and retail investors who are desperate for investment opportunities in a market that is deprived of capital flows due to the continuing debt crisis”
However, as of now, the particulars of the corporate bond issue, -namely the final size, the coupon and the maturity have not been announced- but are expected to be made public by the end of March.
OPAP operates in the gaming industry in Greece and Cyprus and is considered a successful example for privatization in Greece.
Financial analysts claim OPAP to be among the soundest listed companies, having remained largely unaffected by the severe financial crisis.
