The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said on Monday that it will look to raise up to €1 billion in a sale of 10-year bonds at auction later this week. The deal comes as Irish debt continues to fall to record lows.
There will be one bond offered in the auction on Thursday, June 13th – the 1.1 per cent Treasury Bond 2029 – and the auction will be confined to primary dealers. A non-competitive auction for 15 per cent of the amount sold in the competitive auction will immediately follow, and will close at 10 am on Monday, June 17th.
Last month the NTMA raised a larger-than-expected € 4 billion from a sale of the 2050 bond, having attracted about € 18 billion of orders. It was priced to carry an interest rate of 1.53 per cent.
If the NTMA successfully raises €1 billion on Thursday, it will mean that the agency will have raised more than €10.5 billion through the sale of long-term bonds this year.
The NTMA has a target to raise between €14 billion – €18 billion this year. Most of the debt is being raised to finance the repayment of maturing bonds in the coming years.
Irish debt, along with German, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese bonds, all hit record lows within recent days, as the European Central Bank ruled out raising interest rates in the coming year. Irish 10-year bonds are currently yielding 0.32 per cent, at a spread of 56 basis points to German bunds.
