Israel’s Accountant General Rony Hizkiyahu has completed raising a €2.5 billion bond in London, in what Israel’s Ministry of Finance say is the lowest margins ever above the euro’s benchmark interest rate.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, H.E. Mark Regev, welcomed the “excellent” news yesterday, stating: “2019 really promises to be a great year for Israel-UK trade”.
€1.25 billion of the bond is to be repaid within 10 years, and €1.2 billion to be paid over 30 years. The 10 year bond has an interest rate of 1.5% compared to the 30 year bond’s interest rate of 2.5%. It is therefore the first ever 30 year euro bond that it has ever issued, and one of the few such bonds to be issued anywhere outside of Europe.
They were distributed at margins of 1.15% and 0.75% basis points above the mid-swap benchmark interest rate for similar terms.
The bonds were issued after senior Ministry of Finance officials conducted a roadshow for foreign investors from London, Paris, Frankfurt and Munich. More than 300 investors participated in the bond issue, from banks and investors from large scale financial institutions from 30 countries including the UK, France and Germany.
This announcement is the 7th euro bond issue and is part of the Accountant General’s plan to diversify financial sources of lessening Israel’s national debt.
