Creece sold a new benchmark in tough market conditions last week, but unfortunate timing meant the sale was largely at the mercy of nervous investors. Market volatility and fears over the health of the parent company of Portugal's largest bank spilled over to peripheral markets on Thursday and tempered demand for Greece's €1.5bn deal, with books reaching just over €3bn. "Investors waiting on the sidelines was our biggest issue. At IPTs, indications of interest were good, but some investors took a wait-and-see approach that morning," said one syndicate official who worked on the deal. Indeed, compared to the large deal sizes normally printed by peripheral European issuers, bankers away from the deal were underwhelmed by the small size of the issue.
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