The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said on Monday it plans to sell a new bond to help refinance €5.5 billion of Ireland's remaining International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt as well as bilateral borrowings from Denmark and Sweden.
The State debt-management agency said it intends to get a club of banks – or a syndicate – to market a new five-year benchmark bond.
Sources told The Irish Times that that the NTMA is likely to raise between €3 billion and €5 billion from the syndicated deal, which is expected to be launched on Wednesday, after German investors come back to their desks following a bank holiday. A spokesman for the NTMA declined to comment.
The planned transaction follows on from the Government’s announcement early last month that it plans to execute an early repayment of its remaining €4.5 billion of IMF bailout loans as well as €1 billion given to the State in 2010 by Denmark and Sweden.
The move, however, depends on all European Union states agreeing to waive the right of two EU bailout facilities, which gave Ireland €40.2 billion during the financial crisis, to seek early repayment at the same time.
Separately, the NTMA said on Monday it plans to hold its final regular bond auction on November 9th followed by a sale on December 14th of short-term debt, known as treasury bills.
“At the end of September the NTMA had issued €10.5 billion in benchmark bonds, from its stated funding range of €9 billion to €13 billion,” the NTMA said. “As the early repayment did not form part of the originally planned issuance range for 2017, total issuance for the year may be above €13 billion.”
