Selling the story: Tesoro well placed to ride recovery wave

The Italian Treasury enjoyed an enviable 2015, as for once the country’s political scene was a beacon of stability, at least compared to certain other European countries. That stability is one of the reasons cited for BTPs outperforming Spanish government debt in 2015 — while Spanish bonds suffered turbulence during a year of regional and general elections, Italy’s government looks like being the first in many years to survive a full term in office. With an executive that has been able to drive economic, legal and political reforms through a parliamentary system notorious for inducing stalemates, investors are hopeful that strong economic indicators could evolve into real growth in 2016. Italy is not immune to the forces that have disrupted markets and macroeconomic outlooks across Europe and beyond — from dwindling liquidity in secondary markets to banks leaving primary dealerships, and struggling emerging markets dampening demand for the country’s exports. But the country also has advantages that many of its European peers lack — not least the unflinching demand for government debt from its vast retail investor base that has allowed it to print some of the largest bonds ever seen in the government debt markets. GlobalCapital gathered together investors, bankers and representatives of Italy’s finance ministry to discuss the outlook for the country’s debt in the international bond markets.