- First OeKB benchmark bond in Sterling in 2026
- Largest Sterling order book ever achieved
- Strong interest out of the United Kingdom with a placement of 44%
Following the successful issuance of a USD global benchmark bond at the beginning of the year, OeKB quickly followed up with a GBP 500 million transaction on 13 January. It has an October 2030 maturity.
The book saw very strong demand from top-quality investors and grew to GBP 1.45 billion within the first 1.5 hours of opening - this being the largest order book ever achieved by OeKB in the GBP market. The spread versus SONIA Mid-Swap was initially announced at +40 basis points and, due to the exceptionally strong demand, was finally set at +39 basis points. This corresponded to a spread of +18.7 basis points over UK government bonds.
The bulk of the transaction with 44% was placed with institutional investors in the UK, a further 30% went to accounts in Europe ex-UK, whilst Asia made up 26%.
62% of the bonds were allocated to bank treasuries while central banks and official institutions took up 31% and fund managers 7% of the transaction.
The coupon was set at 3.875% and the re-offer price at 99.503%.
Lead Managers were Barclays Bank Ireland PLC, HSBC Bank plc., RBC Europe Limited and TD Global Finance.
The issue carries an unconditional and explicit guarantee of the Republic of Austria and is rated Aa1/AA+ by Moody’s and Standard Poor’s respectively.
Attractive conditions for Austria's exportersOne of OeKB’s main tasks is to support exporters with loans at attractive financing conditions in cooperation with their banks. OeKB finances these loans by placing bonds with international investors on the capital market. All OeKB bonds are guaranteed by the Republic of Austria. This enables OeKB to obtain favourable conditions on the capital market and to pass these on to the exporters. OeKB's long-term financing needs amount to around 6 billion euros annually. |
