IL&P raises €1.25bn in new bond issue

Irish Life & Permanent has confirmed today that it has raised a further €1.25bn in funding through the issue of a new public fixed-rate bond.

The bond was issued for a term of three years and was priced at a margin of 135 bps over mid swap rates.

"The issue was significantly oversubscribed attracting strong international support from in excess of 80 investors, primarily from leading institutions in Europe," said a statement from the bank.

It follows the issue of a five-year €2bn bond by Irish Life & Permanent in early March of this year and the issue of a three-year US $1.75bn bond in January.

Speaking today a spokesperson for Irish Life & Permanent said: “The strong interest we have seen from investors so far this year to the three bond transactions that we have executed demonstrates the encouraging demand for Irish debt and specifically bonds from Irish Life & Permanent.”

All three bonds were issued under the terms of the new Eligible Liabilities Guarantee (ELG) Scheme, which commenced in December 2009 and which is operated by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

Liabilities guaranteed under the ELG Scheme can have a maturity of up to five years.

The latest bond issue was co-ordinated by Irish Life & Permanent Group Treasury.

Lead managers were Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase and Co.