Greece wins the battle, but the war is yet to be won

Failure in the sovereign bond market today was quite simply not an option for the Hellenic Republic. And by pricing Eu8bn of five year bonds some 300bp back of Germany, Greece and its lead managers ensured the deal was a blowout success. But before the European sovereign bond market gets carried away, life is set to get tougher for Greece as an issuer before it gets better, on account of the vast amounts it and its fellow European sovereigns still need to raise this year