Bulgaria Sells 1.5 bln Euro Bond At 3.05% Yield
Bulgaria has placed 1.49 billion euro ($2.0 billion) in 10-year Eurobonds at 3.055% yield, the Bulgarian finance ministry said on Friday.
Over 250 investors placed bids on Thursday for over 4.0 billion euro worth of government securities and subscribed for the issue in less than 30 minutes from opening, the ministry said in a notice.
Bulgaria’s Eurobond has an annual coupon of 2.95%, the lowest ever the country has had for Eurobonds.
The Eurobonds will be issued on July 3 and will mature in September 2024.
Citygroup Global Markets, HSBC Bank, and JP Morgan Securities launched on June 23 a roadshow with investors from Europe for a the Treasury bond issue.
“Yesterday's issue ended with pretty good results,” Bulgarian prime minister Plamen Oresharsky said in a press release issued by the government. “A ten-year interest rate below 3.1% is a really good sign of investor confidence,” he added.
The Capital Daily quoted financial analysts as saying that the recent lowering of the country’s credit rating, political instability and the problems related to local Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) had an insignificant effect on the placement of the issue.
Earlier this month, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Bulgaria's long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings to 'BBB-/A-3' from 'BBB/A-2' over the political instability in the country. Bulgaria is due to hold early general elections in the autumn.
On Friday the central bank placed Corpbank, the fourth biggest lender in the country, under special supervision over risk of insolvency. It applied the same procedure to its subsidiary Victoria Commercial Bank on Sunday.