NTMA holds investor roadshow

THE NATIONAL Treasury Management Agency is embarking on its first investor roadshow since the EU-IMF loans bailout last year as it travels to continental Europe, the Far East and the United States over the next four to six weeks.

Chief executive John Corrigan will lead the trips to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, London, Paris, Frankfurt and the US.

He will be joined by Oliver Whelan, the NTMA’s director of funding and debt management, and Rossa White, the chief economist at the State’s debt agency.

A spokesman said the trips marked “a significant step-up” in its contact with existing investors in Irish Government debt and potential investors.

The NTMA’s presentations will focus on the state of the banking sector, the country’s budgetary situation and the economy, he said.

New investors in higher-risk debt would be targeted in preparation for Ireland’s return to the bond markets, reflecting the country’s credit rating, which is one notch above junk status, he said.

“We want to make sure Ireland is on their radar screen as we begin the climb to getting back into the bond markets,” he said.

Mr Corrigan has said it is possible that Ireland could raise borrowings again this year but probable that it would be next year.

The spokesman said the roadshow had been planned for months and did not mark an accelerated schedule.

“We want to maintain those relationships with investors so we can return to the market when the conditions are right again,” he said.

The Government had €116 billion of borrowings at the end of 2010, of which 82 per cent was due to overseas investors.