Greece is the word: Nation returns to bond markets with €3bn issue

Greece raised €3bn of five-year money yesterday in its first foray back into the bond markets since the eurozone debt crisis.

The Greek government had initially hoped to attract issue debt with a coupon of between 5-5.25%, but lowered the figure after the issue was more than eight times oversubscribed. The issue eventually came priced at a yield of 4.95% - lower than many initial estimates - after generating over €20bn of orders, showing the rampant demand amongst investors for peripheral debt. Greece came close to default in 2010 after it emerged it had used a number of investment banks to conceal the extent of its borrowing. Yields on the country's debt rocked, with one-year paper hitting 111% as invest...