Ireland’s Banks Go From Zero to Hero as Bonds Surge
Nov. 20 -- As Ireland emerges from the care of
its bailout masters, the banks that brought the nation to the
brink of insolvency are also exiting the emergency ward.
Allied Irish Banks Plc sold 500 million euros ($676
million) of three-year securities today, its first senior
unsecured benchmark bond since before the country entered its
bailout program three years ago. Permanent TSB Group Holdings
Plc today sold 500 million euros of mortgage-backed securities,
the first such transaction since 2007 by any Irish bank.
Investors shunned Irish bank and sovereign debt as a real
estate bubble burst in 2008, pushing the country into following
Greece and seeking emergency finance. The debt of lenders such
as Bank of Ireland Plc is now beating that of the sovereign as
Ireland moves toward the end of its aid program next month.
“Performance has been very strong,” said Fiona Hayes, a
fixed-income strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald LP in Dublin.
“While a pause for breath may be inevitable in the very short
term, we think this is a story that has further to run.”
Yields Dive
Just as yields on Irish government bonds tumbled as the
euro-region crisis eased, those on Irish bank debt are dropping.
Allied Irish’s state-guaranteed bond maturing in 2015
yields about 1.5 percent, down from a high of 19.4 percent in
July 2011. Bank of Ireland’s state-backed bond due in the same
year yields 1.3 percent, dropping from 18.6 percent in 2011.
The Allied Irish 2015 bonds returned 7.1 percent in the
last 12 months, compared with the 6.8 percent total return for
the equivalent debt from Bank of Ireland. Irish government bonds
of a similar maturity returned just 3.2 percent, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg.
Unsecured Bond
Allied Irish today said its sale of 500 million euros of
three-year, unsecured bonds bonds was priced with a 2.875
percent coupon.
Permanent TSB said it attracted more than 1.5 billion euros
of orders in its sale of Irish residential mortgage-backed
securities today, which priced at 1.65 percentage points over
the three-month Euribor rate.
The sale “on favorable terms reflects strong investor
confidence in both Permanent TSB and the Irish economy,” Kieran
Bristow, the bank’s group treasurer, said in a statement.
