Bulgaria's parliament ratified a subscription agreement for a 950 million euro ($1.2 billion) bond issue with HSBC, BNP Paribas and Raiffeisen Bank International, and a fiscal agency agreement with Bank of New York Mellon as fiscal agent and paying agent and with Bank of New York Mellon (Luxembourg) S.A. as registrar agent and transfer agent on the bond.
The new bond issue will go to repay a global bond maturing next year, parliament said in a statement published on its website on Friday.
The bond issue procedure is expected to begin next week, state-run Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported also on Friday.
Bulgaria will have to pay 818 million euro plus interest on its global bond in January.
From a financial point of view and considering the situation on the European markets, now is the best time for Bulgaria to launch a eurobond, the finance ministry quoted finance minister Simeon Dyankov as telling parliament.