National Bank successfully completes sale of five-year bond, raising 750 million euros‏

A successful completion of a bond loan process by National Bank was a vote of confidence to the bank, the wider domestic banking system and the Greek economy in general, financial analysts told ANA-MPA on Thursday.

Speaking to ANA-MPA shortly after National Bank announced the completion of a bond sale issue worth 750 million euros in international markets, analysts said it was the first corporate bond issue with a lower cost compared with the yield of the five-year Greek state bond, a development very successful for National Bank (the interest rate was set 50 basis points lower compared with the five-year Greek state bond).

The book-building process was oversubscribed around three times, with the return of the issue set at 4.5 pct and the coupon at 4.375 pct. The price of the five-year bond was 99.451 pct, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Morgan Stanley were coordinators of the issue.

Bank officials said the money raised by National Bank will be used exclusively to finance the real economy through offering new loans to households and enterprises at lower interest rates.