The Estonian Actors' Union bought bonds for €1,600 from the first offering of state bonds aimed at small investors in Estonia, Wednesday's "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

"Even when times are tough, we will not give up on helping the country. Just as [Poet] Juhan Liiv gave away his coat at the beginning of the last century to support the construction of the Estonia Theater, cultural workers today also believe it is important that, with the little we have, we still try to help the country," said the chairman of the actors' union Reimo Sagor.

In total, 7,300 retail investors brought bonds with a value of €29 million. The average was €3,973.

The initial sale was for €200 million but it was oversubscribed four times, totalling €821 million.

"After all, the results are good, with four oversubscriptions and an active participation of 7,300 retail investors, also a very good result. As this is the first time, there were not very high expectations, but it still shows that there is a lot of interest," said Janno Luurmees, head of the state treasury department of the Ministry of Finance.

Redgate Capital partner Valeria Kiisk said local small investors could be more interested in the bonds.     

"If we think about the activity of the investment community and how much money we have sitting on deposits and how much money is willing to be put into riskier positions, the number could have been higher," Kiisk told "Aktuaalne kaameera."

Estonian retail investors will receive 100 percent of the amount they subscribed for, professional Estonian investors will receive 26 percent, and international investors will receive 13 percent. The majority of the €200 million offering was subscribed to by 28 professional investors.

"Local institutions participated well. There were even targeted bids to international investors, which is surprising on the one hand. On the other hand, it is very positive news in the sense that in a situation where we are talking about our geopolitical situation being poor, our macroeconomic outlook being questionable, there are still international investors who are participating and who want an instrument listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange," said Kiisk.

Due to high interest, more offers are being considered

"The experience so far is positive, we have some indication and a sense of how much interest there is in the domestic market. We will definitely repeat [the issue] at some point," Luurmees said.

Bonds will be traded on the stock exchange on September 17. The state redeems the bonds to buyers after two years with an interest rate of 3.3 percent per year. 

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