Greece successfully completes bond swap program

by Alexia Vlachou

ATHENS, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Greece on Wednesday announced the successful completion of a state bond swap program worth 25.47 billion euros.

In an announcement to the Athens Stock Exchange, the Public Debt Management Organization presented the preliminary results of the swap plan which showed a big response by bondholders in the exchange process.

In a first comment, the Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos welcomed the announcement as "the transition to a new era".

"The bond swap procedure, launched on Nov. 15, was completed with great success. It is in fact the second successful exit to the markets after the previous one in July, which aims to redesign the profile of Greek debt in order to facilitate the country's next exit in international markets," Tzanakopoulos said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

As part of the plan, Greece will issue five new series of bonds, worth 25.75 billion euros. "The take up reached about 86.1 percent," Tzanakopoulos stated.

The launch of the bond swap procedure aimed to improve liquidity in the second bond market and facilitate the country's next exit in capital markets.

The swap deal aimed to "normalize" a yield curve in the bond market, paving the way for Greece's next test bid to raise funds from international capital markets, which according to sources, is expected in early 2018.

The debt-laden country is shut out from international markets since the start of the acute crisis seven years ago and relies on the bailouts. Enditem