Claire Wilson
MORE than half of investors in a new 31-year Spanish government bond were foreign, the treasury has announced.
The central bank announced earlier in the week it was to issue its longest-dated bond since September 2009 as it sought to take advantage of a recovery in market confidence.
Around 28% of the €4 billion euros of the new bond was snapped up by Brits, while US, French and German investors each accounted for 10%.
The bond was issued on Wednesday with a yield of 5,1%, a far cry from the all-time high 7.6% long term Spanish debt was yielding in July 2010,.
The instrument, which matures on October 31 2044, was issued at the same time as Italy priced a seven year bond, for which demand was also high.
The success of the deals is being hailed as a huge vote of confidence for peripheral Europe.
It’s not just Spanish debt foreign investors are keen to commit to, find out more about the forthcoming acquisition of a Spanish shopping centre by a UK real estate firm.
Of course this article completely misses the elephant in the room – Euro denominated bonds.
If this bond sale was denominated in Pesetas just how many takers would there have been – none?