By Silvia archetti
ROME (MaceNews) – Italy is likely to issue two new maturities of more USD-denominated bonds over the next few days, potentially by the end of this week, according to ruling coalitions sources. It will be a two-tranche issuance with a 3-year and a 30-year maturity each with the goal to further complete the yield curve in dollars and make it as “fluid” as possible.
“The original plan at the start of the year was to keep issuing at least another maturity by the end of the first semester of this year, and it is very likely this will be done by end of this week. The goal is to increase the frequency of our yearly issuances and make these more regular and frequent”, said a source.
Italy’s government has mandated three global banks to lead manage a new fixed rate dollar issuance on the US market, with sources noting that the timing of the actual launch is likely to be very soon but depending upon day-to-day market conditions and currency exchange rates.
“Once the banks are mandated with such task, then a global investors call, alongside one-to-one calls, will follow, and finally the operation will be closed with the effective issuance which is likely to take place over the next few days, either by end of this week or beginning of May”, said the official.
Rome is also eyeing “unconventional” maturities as it seeks to become a ‘frequent issuer’ and turn the U.S. operation into the cornerstone of its global issuance program.
The objective is two-fold: diversify and strengthen the investor base through foreign currency issuances and complete the yield curve in U.S. dollars so it is parallel to the issuance curve in euros.
Source noted that Italy will continue to issue securities in other currencies this year, both in the Global and EMTN (Euro Medium Term Notes) format, but the dollar operation has taken on a central role of ‘protagonist’ in guiding the debt issuance strategy.
This upcoming issuance will be the third in the last few years. Sources said it is possible that more USD bonds issuances might follow later this year.
In order to complete the yield curve in USD and cover as many segments as possible Italy will also be focusing on the issuance of new maturities to fill in the gaps between the maturities already issued also through unconventional and non-standard segments.
In 2019 Rome made a historical comeback on the U.S. financial market after nine years of absence, raising USD 7 billion through the placement of 5, 10, 30 years U.S. dollar denominated. A second operation took place at the end of last year when a new 5-year U.S. denominated bond maturing in February 2026 was placed on the market, raising USD 3 billion and thus increasing the amount of outstanding securities in USD to 15.5 billion.
“We want to diversify maturities to increase the variety and the offer of U.S.-denominated bonds to lure new investors with a wider choice and make the yield curve as liquid as possible, meaning not just focusing on our benchmark maturities but also on unconventional, non-standard ones”, said one source.
Italy’s traditional securities maturities are 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, 30 years but for the dollar operations it is likely that upcoming future issuances might also take into account maturities in between these segments, where feasible.
“The recent operations made in past years have been great, particularly given that Italy returned to a foreign market after a decade of absence and had to go through all the necessary procedures and authorizations to operate on US soil. So far the alignment of the required paperwork with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been successful and raises confidence that it will continue to be so”, said the source.
The SEC green lighted this third issuance in November. The proceedings of the issuances will be used for debt management needs. Italy has recently further raised deficit finding by +EUR 40 billion to tackle the pandemic.
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Contact this reporter: silvia@macenews.com.
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