MILAN, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Italy’s new 3.5 billion euro inflation-linked 2041 bond, or BTPei, was 90 percent placed abroad, with Britain taking up 44 percent, the Italian Treasury said on Wednesday.
Some 56 percent of the offering was taken up by banks while pension funds and investment funds accounted for 15 percent and 22 percent, respectively, the Treasury said in a statement.
“The strong foreign participation reflects the general attention paid to Italian debt,” said Maria Cannata, head of debt management at the Italian Treasury.
Meanwhile, the 4 percent take-up from Asia and the 7 percent from North America was “not high, but significant,” she said.
The complexity of the operation and the volatility of the market probably prompted some investors, especially insurance companies, to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, she added.
“The strong participation of the banks reflects expectations for concrete interest that will not take long to manifest itself in buy orders in the next few days or weeks,” Cannata said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Italy priced the euro inflation-linked bond at 98.891 with a yield of 2.618 percent and a coupon of 2.55 percent. For details, see [ID:nMAT011812] [ID:nLL85880] (Reporting by Gabriella Bruschi, writing by Stephen Jewkes)
