Slovenia has successfully tapped into international capital markets to issue €1.5 billion in new ten-year bonds in what the Finance Ministry says is the first sovereign euro-denominated transaction of 2024.

The bonds, issued in a syndicated deal on 3 January, are due on 10 March 2034 and have a 3% coupon rate, according to the Finance Ministry.

Books for the new issue closed with a volume of around €6.8 billion, including €785 million in joint lead manager demand.

"This is a clear testimony to the support investors show to the Republic of Slovenia to achieve its funding targets for the year," the ministry said.

The bond was priced at 99.621% with a yield of 3.043%. The spread on the bond was set 58 basis points above mid-swaps. The issuance landed flat to fair value with negligible new issue concessions, the ministry said.

Most of the investors are fund managers (37%), followed by official institutions such as central banks (20%), banks or treasuries (18%), insurance companies or pension funds (12%), and venture capital funds (9%).

27% of the investors come from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 26% from the UK and Ireland, 13% from Scandinavia, 11% from Slovenia, 9% are based in France and the Benelux countries, and 6% each come from Central and Eastern Europe, and SE Europe.

The treasury announced the plan to issue a new eurobond on 2 January, mandating Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, and NKBM to manage it.

After gathering supportive investor feedback, books were opened the following morning, on 3 January, and the transaction closed on the same day at the target value of €1.5 billion.

Under budget implementation legislation, Slovenia can borrow up to €4.7 billion this year and up to €4.3 billion in 2025.

According to the annual national debt repayment plan, the sovereign is to repay a total €3.2 billion in debt this year, of which €2.5 billion in principal and the rest in interest.