Greece

Greece hit the market this week with a €2bn tap, neatly threading a needle between the EU’s jumbo debut and a hefty 30 year from Italy. But unlike other sovereigns, the exercise was not a scramble for cash to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Two public sector borrowers will follow the EU’s record breaking success in the euro market on Wednesday, with Agence Française de Développement looking to sell its debut bond under its new framework tied to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Greece tapping its 2035s.

National Bank of Greece (NBG) has become the lowest rated bank to issue green debt, after winning two times as much demand as it needed for a €500m senior bond on Thursday. The trade formed part of a flurry of green issuance in the FIG market, alongside new deals from Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel and Mizuho Financial Group.

National Bank of Greece (NBG) is set to become the first Greek financial institution to issue a green bond, after announcing plans for a new green senior deal on Wednesday.

The Hellenic Republic returned to the market this week to tap a June 2030 line, raising €2.5bn with its third syndication of the year.

All eyes in the primary euro public sector bond market are fixed on the expected arrival of Germany's green Bund this week, but there were still some other deals announced on Tuesday. Greece is sticking to its plan for a syndicated bond issuance every quarter and Berlin hopes to match the success of its compatriot Land NRW in the 30 year part of the curve.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, June 22. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, June 15. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

There were no issues of competing supply on Tuesday as three eurozone sovereigns amassed big order books, buoyed by last week’s expansion of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp).

Greece and Ireland are set to test the primary bond market this week, returning to one buoyed by a fresh injection of confidence after the European Central Bank expanded its Pndemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp) last week.

Greece is looking to divert the use of proceeds of its borrowing to help it tackle the coronavirus crisis, but that is not likely to result in an increase to its funding programme.

From Italian government bonds to fallen angels, nothing is junk unless the European Central Bank says so.