Portugal to issue 15-year bonds for 1st time since bailout program

Portugal is ready to issue 15-year debt bonds for the first time since it received a 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank in May 2011, according to local media reports on Tuesday.

The treasury bonds will be auctioned this week and the amount of bonds is expected to 3 billion euros. The sale will be handled via a syndicate of banks consisting of CaixaBI, Credit Agricole, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Nomura.

The 15-year bonds, the longest bonds sold by Portugal since 2008, will be a key test of investor comfort and comes after Euro zone bond yields fell last week following Quantative Easing speculation boosted by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.

It is also the first time for Portugal to auction the long-term bonds since the debt-ridden country rescued its largest private bank Banco Espirito Santo with 4.9 billion euros owing to its fraud and money laundering last month. The country auctioned 1 billion euros in short-term bonds in August at lower yields than in previous auctions. Portugal's last long-term sale was on July when the country issued 4.5 billion U.S. dollars and lured strong investor interest.