Slovenia to buy back another 1 bn dollar bonds

Slovenia has announced a buyback tender of 1 billion U.S. dollars for national bonds issued on the U.S. market in 2012, 2013 and 2014, in a bid to to reduce its debt.

The tender is open until Aug.30, with the treasury offering repayment in eight days, the Slovenian Press Agency quoted the Finance Ministry as reporting on Tuesday.

The authorities has already bought back bonds worth 1.25 billion U.S. dollars in May, which brought down the total nominal value of dollar-denominated bonds to 5.5 billion U.S. dollars.

The country issued bonds on the U.S. market when facing with economic difficulties. Since implementing reforms, its debt has fallen significantly.

Slovenia has issued U.S. dollar-denominated bonds for three times, when economic conditions meant it was virtually locked out of the euro bond market.

In the autumn of 2012, it raised 2.25 billion U.S. dollars through issuing 10-year bonds with a coupon rate of 5.5 percent. It was followed by the issue of 2.5 billion dollars bond with a coupon rate of 5.85 percent in May 2013.

In February 2014, the country conducted a dual-tranche issue of five- and ten-year bonds worth a combined 3.5 billion dollars. The ten-year bonds, which are subject to the buyback, carry a coupon rate of 5.25 percent. Endit