Greece

Despite heavy volatility in the equity markets, in fixed income, public sector bond issuers had an excellent week. A cool €10bn hit the market in tenors from five to 15 years and from all parts of the spectrum within the asset class. Lewis McLellan reports.

After being sidelined by volatility in the equity market this week, Greece made it to market on Thursday with a €3bn seven year.

A battering in the US stock market sent ripples through financial markets on Monday and Tuesday but, with stability returning, investors are keen to put money to work while higher yields are available. But one opportunity to do so was snatched away from them on Tuesday.

Greece, which on Monday announced its intention to sell a seven year, kept away from markets because of wide swings in European govvie spreads — a decision lauded by bankers away from the transaction. Dimitris Tsakonas, head of funding at the Greece's Public Debt Management Agency, spoke to GlobalCapital.

Since Greece’s debt exchange operation in November, market participants have been expecting a return either at three years or seven years. Monday’s mandate brought the answer.

Alpha Bank was inundated with demand for its debut covered bond, benefiting from a series of positive credit events that have boosted the Greek sovereign, thereby enabling the issuer to print a considerably longer benchmark at a lower yield than its peers — and with much more demand.

Nordic high yield bond bankers are making a play to attract more borrowers from elsewhere in Europe, promising them access to local investors familiar with mid-cap borrowers and small deal sizes. This week, SecureLink, a Belgian software security company, listed its first bond on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Alpha Bank has mandated leads for the third publicly syndicated Greek covered bond in three months. But in contrast to the first two deals, it has chosen a longer maturity with a soft bullet structure, instead of a conditional pass through.

The head of one of Europe's highest profile sovereign debt management agencies has returned to the sell side to run his new firm's investment banking business in his home country.

Belgium will issue its first sovereign green bond in the first quarter of 2018. Several countries in southern Europe are investigating the option, but they are less likely to issue in the near future.

Alpha Bank has structured a newly rated covered bond programme in soft bullet format. The move is in contrast to its Greek peers, which have all recently issued from conditional pass through (CPT) programmes.

Greece was able to exchange more than €25bn of old bonds for new assets in an exercise designed to normalise the borrower’s curve. The offer ended on Tuesday, in the midst of discussions about the conditions that will be attached to Greece’s next tranche of emergency loans. The fresh curve should allow the borrower to return to capital markets twice in 2018.