České dráhy (ČD), the Czech national railway carrier, has completed a €500 million eurobond issue, strengthening its financing base for fleet renewal and further investment.
The senior unsecured bonds mature in September 2031 and carry a fixed annual coupon of 3.750%. According to ČD, demand from investors significantly exceeded the offered volume, peaking at more than €1.8 billion.
Almost 150 institutional investors took part in the transaction. Asset managers represented the largest investor group, followed by banks, insurers and pension funds. Geographically, the strongest allocation went to investors in German-speaking countries, followed by Central and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom and other European markets.
ČD said the funds will be used mainly to finance rolling stock renewal and other investments aimed at improving passenger services. The bond issue comes shortly after the company received its strongest rating to date from Moody’s, which upgraded ČD from Baa2 to Baa1 with a stable outlook.
The bonds themselves were also rated Baa1 by Moody’s and are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
According to ČD board member and deputy CEO for economics and assets Lukáš Svoboda, strong demand helped the company achieve its historically lowest spread on a eurobond issue.
The transaction was arranged with an international banking syndicate led by Société Générale and UniCredit, with BNP Paribas, Erste Group, Intesa Sanpaolo, ING and KBC acting as bookrunners.
The issue follows ČD Group’s 2025 financial results, published at the end of April. The group reported a consolidated pre-tax profit of CZK 1.8 billion under IFRS, improving its result by 46% year-on-year.
