EU raises 4.75 billion euros for Portugal

BRUSSELS: The European Union raised 4.75 billion euros ($6.7 billion) for Portugal on Wednesday in a new bond issue, as part of a 78-billion-euro bailout for Lisbon.

The funds will be delivered to Portugal on June 1, the European Commission said, the day after a first bond issue raised 1.75 billion euros for Lisbon and another 3.0 billion euros for Ireland, another bailed out eurozone nation.

The loans, coupled with IMF aid, will "provide a comfortable liquidity situation in those member states in line with the country programme objectives," the EU's excutive arm said in a statement.

Ireland and Portugal have committed to cutting their public deficits in exchange for huge bailouts they were granted after they were sucked into a relentless debt crisis that has rocked the eurozone for the past year.

The 27-nation EU and the 17-state eurozone bloc said last week that they would raise 15.3 billion euros for the two nations by July 15 with a series of bond issues through financial rescue mechanisms.

The European Commission is raising funds on behalf of EU states, which are backing one-third of the 67.5 billion euro Irish rescue that was agreed in December, and the Portuguese bailout that was approved this month.

Eurozone states are providing another third through the European Financial Stability Facility, which was created last year to prop up economies in trouble after a huge bailout for Greece. The IMF provides the remaining funds.

After issuing a 10-year bond on Tuesday, the European Commission raised funds on Wednesday with a five-year bond that pays a coupon of 2.75 percent. Both attracted strong demand from Europe and Asia.

"Favourable market conditions and the extremely good investor demand for yesterday's 10-year bond allowed placing these two bonds in quick succession, completing the announced transactions for the second quarter of 2011," the commission said.

The EU executive said 17 percent of the demand came from Britain, 14 percent from Germany and Austria, 12 percent from Nordic nations and 11 percent from France. Outside Europe, 16 percent of demand came from Asia, seven percent the Middle East and five percent the Americas.

Among different types of investors, central banks and official institutions represented 36 percent of demand, followed by private banks (32 percent) and asset managers (26 percent).

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011