MILAN: Italy's Treasury is considering issuing a new 15-year bond possibly as early as next week, two sources close to the matter said on Thursday. "A new 15-year bond is in the air," one of the sources said.
The Treasury declined to comment. Italy sells new long-term bonds via a syndicate of banks. No regular auctions of Italian debt are scheduled for next week.
The source said that some investors who would be interested in buying longer-term Italian bonds were discouraged by current secondary market prices.
"With a new (15-year) bond the Treasury could attract also those investors that do not want to hold bonds they bought at a price that is well above par," the source said.
The current 15-year benchmark, maturing in March 2030 and with an outstanding amount of around 16 billion euros, traded on Thursday at price of 127, yielding 1.5 percent.
The coupon on the new issue would be much lower than the 3.5 percent of the March 2030 bond as Italian yields have fallen sharply thanks to the the launch of the European Central Bank's sovereign bond buying programme.
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