No change to Greek U.S. roadshow plans: source
Greece has not changed its plan to hold a U.S. roadshow for a dollar bond, a senior government official told Reuters on Thursday, denying earlier press reports.
There is absolutely no change to our plans regarding the U.S. roadshow, the official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
Dow Jones Newswires had reported Greece might cancel the roadshow but later corrected to say it might drop plans to issue a dollar bond if there was not enough interest from U.S. investors. The agency also said Athens had lowered expectations for the amount the bond might raise.
Greece said earlier this year that it would issue dollar- and yen-denominated bonds, and promote them through U.S. and Asia roadshows, to widen its investor base as it seeks to raise 53 billion euros this year.
Greek officials have not revealed how much they would aim to raise in non-euro bonds but press reports have said 3-5 billion euros worth of dollar bonds might be targeted.
A ministry official told Reuters earlier this week that no specific target will be set for the U.S. roadshow and there was no decision yet on how much of this year's planned issuance will be denominated in non-euro currencies.
It's a no-deal road show. We don't go there to issue a bond while we are there, the official, who requested anonymity, said on Monday.
The premium investors demand to buy Greek government bonds in preference to German Bunds rose on Thursday to levels last seen last week, before the European Union agreed a rescue package for Athens.
A lack of clarity over how the package would be implemented has irritated market participants, prompting them to push spreads and credit default swaps wider.
(Reporting by Dina Kyriakidou; Writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by John Stonestreet)
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