Mercury Projects Finance plc, the financing arm of Joseph Portelli’s Mercury Group, has announced that its €20 million bond issue has been fully subscribed and closed ahead of the 30th August deadline.

The bonds are expected to be admitted to listing on the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange with effect from 23rd August, and trading in the bonds is expected to commence from 26th August.

Interest on the bonds at the rate of 5.3 per cent per annum commenced on 19th August and shall be payable annually in arrears on 10th September of each year up to the redemption date in September 2034.

The first interest payment, which falls due on 10th September 2025, will cover a period longer than one year to include the extra time between 19th August to 10th September.

Mercury Projects Finance stated that approximately €5 million of the proceeds will be used to refinance an outstanding Bank of Valletta (BOV) loan that is due by Mercury Towers Ltd to the bank.

The loan had originally been utilised to finance part of the completion and finishing costs of the Mercury Towers project.

A further amount of around €7.8 million will be used to finance the remaining development costs of the project, including its completion and finishing.

Approximately €7.3 million, together with any amounts not utilised for the aforementioned purposes, will be allocated to general corporate funding purposes. This includes the expenses tied to the bond issue, which are expected to come out at a total of €750,000.

The latest bond issue is the fourth one in six years for Mercury Projects Finance.

In 2019, it announced two related bond issues, one for €11.5 million with a 3.75 per cent coupon rate, and another for €11 million with a 4.25 per cent coupon rate. These will mature in 2027 and 2031, respectively. The funds from these issues were primarily used to construct and finish elements of the Mercury Tower project.

This was then followed by a substantial €50 million secured bond issue in 2022, that will mature in 2032. This carried a coupon rate of 4.3 per cent, with approximately €35 million being used to construct and finished the company’s hotel, operated by Meliá Hotels International, while €15 million were allocated to general corporate funding.

Following the new bond issue, the finance company will have raised approximately €92.5 million in the form of outstanding bonds.