Ireland's debt agency hired a syndicate of banks and brokers on Tuesday to sell a new 10-year bond that a market source said was likely to raise around 3 billion euros, potentially covering a fifth of its annual funding needs.

Ireland has kicked off its funding drive with a syndicated sale every year since 2013 and was among the first euro zone sovereign out of the traps again this year.

The agency said it would issue the new bond "in the near future" - language it has previously used when selling the next day.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said in a statement it had appointed BNP Paribas, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Davy, NatWest Markets and SG CIB as joint lead managers for the deal.

The debt agency said last month it would issue between 14 and 18 billion euros of long-term debt in 2019, including at least one syndicated deal, the same range it targeted last year when it ended up raising over 17 billion euros.

When Ireland last issued a new 10-year bond via syndication in early 2018, it raised the funds at a yield of 0.944 percent having received over 14 billion euros worth of investor orders for the new paper. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie