Greece opens books on new 30-year bond, launches landmark sale
Greece has opened books on a new 30-year bond issue, its first such sale in more than a decade, the country’s authorities said in a bourse filing on Wednesday.
Initial guidance was set at mid-swaps plus 160 basis points.
Greece last issued a 30-year bond in 2008, a year before its worst debt crisis in decades began. It returned to international bond markets in 2017 after being cut off for several years and emerged from its third international bailout in 2018.
Greece plans to borrow up to 12 billion euros from markets this year and has already raised 5.5 billion euros with the reopening of a 30-year bond through a private placement and a new 10-year bond issue in January.
“Greece now wants to fill the yield curve with a new 30-year long-term benchmark bond and attract real money investors by taking advantage of low interest rates,” a government official told Reuters.
BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, HSBC, JPMorgan and National Bank of Greece were appointed to jointly manage the issue maturing on January 24, 2052. [Reuters]
