ECONOMY

Strong demand for Austria, Greece, Slovenia bond sales

Strong demand for Austria, Greece, Slovenia bond sales

Bond sales for Austria, Greece and Slovenia won strong demand on Wednesday, joining larger peers who issued debt via syndication earlier in the month.

Austria received 32 billion euros of investor orders, eight times the 4 billion euros it will raise, and Greece received 28 billion euros of orders for new 10-year bonds.

Slovenia is also in the market to raise 500 million euros with a 60-year bond, and has drawn over 4.3 billion euros of demand, according to a lead manager.

All three governments are issuing via syndication, where a borrower hires investment banks to sell the debt directly to end investors, allowing it to issue larger amounts and reach a wider investor base.

They join larger governments like Italy, Spain and France who sold bonds via syndication earlier this month as part of the usual January cycle, most receiving record demand as investors bet that European rates will stay lower for longer.

Richard McGuire, head of rates strategy at Rabobank in London, said the deals on Wednesday were further indication of demand outstripping the supply of bonds in the bloc thanks to European Central Bank bond buying.

"Buoyant demand, even for a high-beta issuer like Greece (shows) financial repression is the order of the day," he said, referring to low interest rates.

[Reuters]

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