Bond premiere on Dealfabrix issuance platform: Erste Bank and Hypo Vorarlberg cooperate on sustainability bond transaction

Erste Group Bank AG issued a 10 million euro senior preferred "Sustainability Bond" with a tenor of three years on Dealfabrix at the end of May. The first bond to be offered via this platform was fully subscribed by Hypo Vorarlberg Bank AG, which had already been one of the investors in the first entirely blockchain-based capital markets issuance in Europe - also via Dealfabrix - at the end of 2018.

All of the steps involved in the issuance, as well as the documentation for the bond with the ISIN "ATDEALFBX2U1", were processed on Dealfabrix within just six seconds. Another advantage of the platform: all of the essential information for a transaction (subscription confirmation, bond terms, prospectus, financial data, and the sustainability framework of the issuer) is available to investors at a glance within the private blockchain.

Ingo Bleier, Erste Group board member for Corporate Banking & Markets: "Efficiency, transparency and security - these are the advantages Dealfabrix offers through its paperless approach. In addition to Schuldscheindarlehen and syndicated loans, bonds too can now be handled via Dealfabrix in just a matter of seconds. We look forward to further developing this pioneering platform so that more investors and issuers can benefit from this innovation."

Wilfried Amann, member of the Managing Board at Hypo Vorarlberg: "Together with Erste Group, we have succeeded in realising the very first bond transaction via the blockchain-based issuing platform ‘Dealfabrix’. High efficiency and security are important features that the digital processing of issuances entails. I am convinced that banks, but also other industries, will in the future more strongly take into consideration blockchain’s possible applications, as well as the opportunities it offers."

Erste Group will use the proceeds of the corporate bond issued via Dealfabrix to finance sustainable and social projects defined under the banking group's Sustainable Finance Framework. In mid-May, Erste Group very successfully placed its inaugural "Sustainability Bond" in the amount of EUR 500 million on the capital market.

About Dealfabrix
Dealfabrix is among the few blockchain-based platforms in Europe that can conduct completely paperless transactions. At the end of 2018, Dealfabrix was used to carry out the very first issuance of a Schuldscheindarlehen in Europe in an entirely digitized process. Since then, the platform has been further developed to also enable transactions involving syndicated loans and bonds.

The blockchain tech used by Dealfabrix makes the transaction process quick, easy and paperless, as all documents are stored on the platform and the entire investment process is digitized. What used to take days and weeks can now be completed in seconds with just a few clicks on Dealfabrix.