By Silvia Marchetti
ROME (MaceNews) – Italy will issue at 10:30 am EST Thursday a second round of US-dollar-denominated bonds with the goal of consolidating a stable and solid presence in the US market through a broad range of maturities after last year’s first issuance.
Rome’s Treasury announced it has mandated Barclays Bank PLC, BofA Securities Europe S.A., and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE to arrange a Global Investor Call at 15:30 LDN/10:30 NY on the 12th of November, together with a series of investor one-on-one calls.
Italy aims to broaden its investor base and create a complete yield curve in US-dollar-denominated bonds across multiple maturities after it broke a nine-year absence from the US market, in October 2019, making a comeback by raising a total USD7 billion from 5-, 10- and 30-year global bonds. Total demand was USD18 billion.
On Thursday, there could be issuance of at least one new maturity with the objective of building a complete USD curve alongside the euro-denominated yield curve, and keeping dollar-denominated debt trading as liquid as possible. The new maturity could be of either below 5 years, between 5 and 10, and between 10 and 30, according to ruling sources.
A US dollar-denominated SEC Registered Global benchmark offering with maturity of February 2026, with the potential addition of a second tranche with a maturity of November 2050, is expected to be launched in the near future, subject to market conditions, said the Treasury.
Manufacturer target market (MIFID II product governance) is eligible counter-parties, professional and retail (all distribution channels).
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gave the green light to the second issuance operation on November 2, placing a cap of USD4 billion restricted to US investors only, according to ruling coalition sources. The offering does not apply to other international investors based abroad that are eligible to buy such bonds, and which could therefore end up raising the total issuance.
In the long term, issuance would focus on maturities that turn out to be the most appealing among US investors with the aim of balancing Italy’s funding needs with US bond market requirements.
According to ruling coalition sources, the USD4 billion for the US market is linked to the fact that Italy has just recently made a return to the market after years of absence and bond performance monitoring is usually required as a sort of ‘test’. Sources also stressed how the time was now appropriate and it would have been impossible to launch the issuance until after the US presidential electoral campaign.