Volvo Cars raises over $200 million from new euro bond

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Volvo Cars issued a bond worth 2 billion Swedish crowns ($214.65 million), it said on Wednesday, just five months after the Chinese-owned carmaker terminated plans to list itself blaming trade tensions and a downturn in automotive stocks.

The funds from the bond sale add to Volvo's coffers at a time when carmakers need cash to develop electric and driverless cars and also face mounting costs from a prolonged U.S.-China trade war and slowdown in large auto markets China and Europe.

Volvo, which is developing Polestar as an electrified performance brand and owns a stake in Chinese owner Geely's stablemate Lynk & Co, has repeatedly said it will finance electric and autonomous vehicle development from existing cash flows.

 

The new bond, which matures in February 2023 and pays a floating coupon of STIBOR plus 2.30 percent, will be used for general corporate purposes and not for a specific project, a Volvo spokesman said on Wednesday.

The bond was issued under Volvo's Euro Medium Term Note programme and Handelsbanken, Nordea and SEB acted as bookrunners on the transaction.

($1 = 9.3175 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Stockholm; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)