Greece attracts record 51 billion euros in orders for new 10-year bond

By Lefteris Papadimas

ATHENS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Greece attracted a record 51 billion euros ($59.50 billion) in orders for its new 10-year bond at a syndication issue on Tuesday, its first sale of the year.

It raised 4 billion euros from the new issue, enough to cover around half of its borrowing needs this year, with the final pricing at 58 basis points over the mid-swap level.

The last time Greece sold a 10-year bond via syndication in January 2025, it attracted orders of about 40 billion euros.

The government plans to borrow a total of around 8 billion euros this year, excluding what it will raise through short-term treasury bills.

STRONG ECONOMY, HIGH YIELDS ATTRACT INVESTORS TO GREEK DEBT

Greece's economy is outperforming most of its European peers. And investors have been attracted to its bonds, which have relatively high yields, since the country regained investment-grade status late in 2023.

"The strong demand reflects the big improvement of the country's economic fundamentals and the rapid reduction of the public debt," said Takis Zamanis, asset manager at Beta Securities.

The Greek economy is expected to grow by 2.4% this year, up from 2.2% in 2025 and double the euro zone average. It is also on track to achieve a 2.8% primary surplus, a measure that excludes interest payments.

Greece, which is recovering from a decade-long financial crisis and three bailouts totalling about 280 billion euros, plans to repay loans worth some 5 billion euros from its first bailout later in the year ahead of schedule.

Since 2020, Greece's public debt - still the highest in the euro zone - has shrunk by more than 45 percentage points to 145.9% of gross domestic product last year. It is expected to fall further to 138.2% of GDP this year.

Greece, meanwhile, has a cash buffer of about 41 billion euros and can cover its debt needs for at least three years without recourse to the markets.

BofA Securities, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley were the joint lead managers for Tuesday's sale.

($1 = 0.8570 euros)