Irish bond sale likely next week

Ireland’s debt agency may seek to sell a syndicated bond through banks as early as next week after the Government’s borrowing costs fell in the wake of an accord to ease its bank bailout burden, analysts said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government will swap so-called promissory notes, which were used to rescue the failed lender Anglo Irish Bank, with €25 billion of long-term bonds with maturities of up to 40 years. Ireland’s five-year bonds fell as much as 11 basis points to 2.8%, the lowest since Oct 2005.

“Expect issuance in the short term,” said Ryan McGrath, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in Dublin.