Greece to raise €5bn in seven-year bond issue

Greece plans to raise €5bn from a new seven-year bond in its first attempt to raise funds since the EU-backed safety net agreement for the country.

The capital markets issuance comes after European leaders agreed at a summit last Thursday to provide a standby facility for the heavy-indebted country made up of loans and IMF funding amounting to around €25bn. Earlier this month, Greece sold €5bn euros of government bonds but had to pay an interest rate of 6.25% - a far higher rate than other European countries such as Germany. Greece hopes the EU aid facility will result in a lower yield on its bonds than its previous issuance when the Government had to pay a high rate of interest to attract investors. An official at the public ...