Which peripheral eurozone paper is most favoured by bond investors? Spain is a frontrunner, if Madrid’s recent issue is anything to go by, pricing inside similar bonds from the republic of Italy. One of the deal’s bookrunners was leading sovereign, supranational and agency (SSA) house Barclays, a familiar name on public sector issues from Spain.
Most non-core eurozone members have cleaned up their act since the eurozone crisis, but Spain has probably done more than most. “Spain has achieved a huge amount by way of structural reform, in areas such as labour markets, pensions and the banking sector,” says Lee Cumbes, Barclays’ head of public sector, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “It had a plan and it stuck to it, and is now trading well through peripheral peers.”
