ATHENS – Waiting for the right time to make a move, Greece’s ruling Radical Left SYRIZA on Jan. 28 authorized a five-year bond issue and market return, nearly six months after the end of three international bailouts of 326 billion euros ($372.07 billion).
That came after it was said it would be done “in the near future, subject to market conditions”, authorities said in a bourse filing, without providing further information on the timing or the amount sought, the news agency Reuters reported.
Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and SG CIB have been picked as joint lead managers for the transaction. The yield on 10-year Greek debt was down 1.5 basis points at 4.07 percent, its lowest since late September last year.
It dropped to a four-month low after the country’s parliament approved a deal last week that changes the name of the neighboring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM,) ending a 28-year dispute.
Reuters reported earlier the government planned a five-year syndicated issue once the vote on changing FYROM’s name to North Macedonia was finished. It could be costly, however, as two earlier test bond sales of 3 billion euros ($3.42 billion) were sold at rates more than three times higher than the bailouts that began in 2010.
Prospective investors, remembering bond holders were stiffed with 74 percent losses in 2012, have also been wary of returning with Tsipras, reneging on anti-austerity promises, imposing an avalanche of tax hikes raising the corporate rate to 29 percent and hard-core SYRIZA elements trying to block any foreign investment as incompatible with their alleged Leftist philosophies that were broken in deals with Capitalists and bankers.
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