EUROPE/AFRICA

摘要

Strong secondary credit markets tempted the republic ofbulgaria to make a rare foray into bond markets last Thursday, bringing a €1.493bn 2.95% 2024 transaction designed to refinance a 2015 maturity. The sovereign, rated Baa2/BBB-/BBB-, last accessed international bond markets in July 2012. But with Central and East European sovereigns rallying throughout the first half of 2014, there was an opportunity to extend its maturity profile at low rates even as its central bank said the banking system was under attack. A run on the country's fourth-biggest lender, Corporate Commercial Bank, has engendered fears about the state of the banking system. The central bank, however, said those fears are overblown. "In recent days there has been an attempt to destabilise the state through an organised attack against Bulgarian banks without any reason," it said in a statement.