Greece Declares It’s Back in Bond Markets After Near-Record Sale

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Time of issue:2021-03-19 13:53
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Greece Declares It’s Back in Bond Markets After Near-Record Sale

Greece attracted bumper demand in its first sale of 30-year bonds since 2008, completing the country’s full return to debt markets.

The nation drew in more than 26 billion euros ($31 billion) of orders for its 2.5 billion-euro sale via banks. That showed investors’ long-term confidence and appetite for a yield at nearly 2% that is the highest in the euro area. The demand, just shy of a record set earlier this year, allowed Greece to cut pricing by 10 basis points from initial guidance.

The sale was the most oversubscribed deal in Europe for over a month, a sign of just how far Greece has come in the past decade. At the height of the euro-area debt crisis in 2012, 10-year yields skyrocketed above 44%, with the country locked out of international markets. Now, those yields are below 1%, giving the government a chance to tap long-end bonds and complete its yield curve.

“It’s proof that Greece is back,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with CNN TV. “It’s just one additional step we take in the direction of leaving our legacy and our past decade once and for good.”

The extra supply saw Greek debt leading regional market losses on Wednesday, with 10-year yields climbing 11 basis points to 0.98%. However, for investors the country’s bonds have already delivered. In the past year alone, they have returned around 25%, making them the best performers in the region, according to Bloomberg Barclays Indices.

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