The Slovak government raised €1 billion in a sale of five-year government bonds with an annual coupon rate of 4.625 percent on Wednesday, January 11. The bond sale attracted interest from 135 investors from Europe and Asia, the Debt Management and Liquidity Agency (ARDAL) said on Thursday.
According to the agency, overall demand for Slovak bonds amounted to €1.3 billion. "The interest and participation of investors in the transaction shows Slovakia's strong reputation and its attractiveness. This enabled Slovakia to be the first eurozone-member country to enter the European market in 2012, following a largely volatile situation on capital markets in late 2011," said ARDAL, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
ARDAL described the range of investors as good, in terms of their identity and geographical location. More than half of the bonds (57 percent) were bought by banks, while 21 percent were purchased by investment funds. Central banks obtained 10 percent of the volume, with the remainder going to insurance companies, pension-management funds and other entities. By country, Austria came top in terms of purchasing Slovak bonds (38 percent), followed by Germany (13 percent) and the Benelux countries (6 percent), central and eastern European countries (6 percent), the United Kingdom and Ireland (5 percent combined), and Italy and Switzerland (3 percent each). Slovak investors acquired 12 percent of the bond issue, with 10 percent going to Asian investors.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
