By Emese Bartha

Spain's first syndicated government bond transaction this year has been launched with a issue size of 13 billion euros ($14.15 billion) on Wednesday, one of the lead manager banks said.

Final books for the issue of new 10-year, April 2033-dated government bonds attracted more than EUR86 billion, including EUR4.5 billion joint lead manager interest, the same bank said. The final orderbook is about EUR1 billion lower than the initial demand indicated by banks after books closed.

The spread on the new bond was set 10 basis points above the mid-yield of the 2.55% October 2032-dated Spanish peer. The bond has a 3.15% coupon and it was priced at 99.763, at a yield of 3.177%, the same bank said.

Eurozone countries are traditionally busy issuing government bonds at the beginning of the year as they start their annual funding programs.

Government bond issuance--both syndications and auctions--has been well received year to date as investors remain undeterred by prospects of substantial debt supply to come, even as the European Central Bank stands ready to start quantitative tightening in March.

Joint lead managers of the Spanish transaction were Barclays, BBVA, Citi, Credit Agricole CIB, J.P. Morgan and Santander.

Write to Emese Bartha at emese.bartha@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2023 10:33 ET (15:33 GMT)