On July 6, Crédit Agricole CIB, alongside Barclays, BBVA, Caja Madrid, Deutsche Bank and Santander, acted as lead arranger and bookrunner for the EUR 6 billion bond issue launched by the Kingdom of Spain. This new Spanish government benchmark bond was issued with a 4.85% coupon and a 10-year maturity (October 31, 2020).

Investors reserved a highly favourable welcome for this transaction. Nearly 300 of them took part and the order book totalled more than EUR 14 billion.

After having concluded two issues in the first quarter of 2010 (a 10-year issue in January and a 15-year issue in February for which Crédit Agricole CIB acted as lead arranger, bookrunner and duration manager), the Kingdom of Spain announced mid-June that it wanted to launch a new 10-year syndicated issue during the third quarter.

Because of the European debt crisis, access to the syndicated market has become more difficult for issuers from peripheral European countries. However, the market’s recent stabilisation and the significant steps taken by the Spanish government to reduce its deficit helped improve the situation. The Kingdom of Spain succeeded in taking advantage of this window to launch its issue.

Because of its distribution quality, the size of the order book and the share of international demand (61%), this transaction is evidence of the market’s still significant support for Spain. It could prove to be a turning point in the European debt crisis.