Slovakia sells EUR 581.5mn in 2014, 2016 T-bonds.

By bne IntelliNews March 20, 2012
Slovakia sold EUR 581.5mn in two- and four-year T-bonds at an auction on March 19, the finance ministrys Debt and Liquidity Management Agency (ARDAL) said. The government sold EUR 280.9mn in two-year zero coupon T-bonds, which mature on April 7, 2014, at an average annual yield of 2.13%, compared to EUR 283mn of the papers sold at the previous auction on February 20 at an average yield of 2.54%. The issue attracted strong investor interest, with bids worth EUR 616.8mn, setting the bid to cover ratio at 2.2, up from 2 a month earlier. Foreign investors placed bids worth EUR 168mn, but only EUR 50mn of their bids were approved. The minimum yield requested by investors was 1.95% and the maximum yield was 2.48%. ARDAL sold EUR 300.6mn of the four-year issue, which bears a fixed annual coupon of 3.5% and matures on February 24, 2016 at an average annual yield of 2.85%. The bid to cover ratio reached 1.78, as dealers placed bids worth EUR 536.1mn, including EUR 200.6mn from foreign investors. The minimum yield requested by investors was 2.79% and the maximum yield was 3.25%. The previous auction of the four-year issue, held on October 31, 2011, attracted bids worth only EUR 35mn and sold EUR 30mn at an average annual yield of 3.31%. IntelliNews comment: At the end of last year Slovakia shifted to issuing short-term government papers to refinance its debt, as the aggravated debt crisis in the eurozone led to poor demand for long-term government bonds since the end of October 2011. But in January, demand for Slovak government securities improved, as a two-year T-bond issue, which sold merely EUR 30mn in November, sold EUR 305.2mn, a few days after S&P downgraded the sovereign ratings on Slovakia by one notch to A. In February, Moodys downgraded Slovakias long-term sovereign rating by one notch to A2 and assigned it a negative outlook, but the government managed to sell EUR 351.5mn in two- and four-year T-bonds a few days later. In January the country sold EUR 1bn of five-year bonds in its first international offering of debt securities since April 2011.

Related Articles

Slovakia one of possible locations for new BMW plant.

German car maker BMW considers building a new plant in eastern Europe and Slovakia is one of the potential locations, Hospodarske Noviny business daily reported citing BMW's board member Ian ... more

Slovakia jobless rate edges down to 14.7% in February 2013.

Slovakia's unemployment rate in February 2013 fell for the first time in six months going down to 14.7% from 14.8% in January when it reached its highest level in more than 8.5 years, data from ... more

Frances CCN Group considers new plant in Slovakia - report.

France-based CCN Group, a supplier of components for turbines and automobiles, considers building a new plant in Slovakia in the town of Belusa, Hospodarske Noviny daily reported citing unnamed ... more

Dismiss