Italy’s $5.6 Billion Sale of 50-Year Bonds Beats Peers’ in 2016
- Country taps ultra-long end of debt curve for first time
- Timing of securities sale ‘is almost perfect’: DZ Bank’s Lenz
Italy's Bond Performance All About Referendum: Nielsen
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Investors looked past Italy’s pending constitutional referendum and whether it threatens Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s political future to buy 50-year government bonds, the nation’s longest-term debt ever.
Italy sold five billion euros ($5.6 billion) of the securities, exceeding deals by Spain and France this year for similar-maturity bonds, according to a person familiar with the matter, who’s not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified. That contrasted with two- to three-billion-euro estimates analysts made before the sale began.