Debt deal leaves Portugal primed for syndication

Portugal is set to cash in on the runaway success of a debt exchange this week with a benchmark deal in the new year. The country’s success has forced bankers, many of whom were tipping it for further bailout assistance just a fortnight ago, to reassess their expectations for what the country can achieve in the capital markets. There were even more reasons to be cheerful about the Iberian peninsula as Spain sold debt at levels last seen when it was a triple-A rated credit with annual GDP growth of 3.6%.