By Richard Johnstone | 7 January 2014

The Irish government today issued its first bonds since exiting the eurozone’s bailout programme, raising €3.75bn though the sale of new benchmark Treasury debt.

Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency announced yesterday that it had asked six banks to manage an issue of ten-year debt.

The banks – Barclays, Citi, Danske Bank, Davy, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley – undertook market testing ahead of the issue, which then went ahead this afternoon. The money was raised at a yield of 3.543%.

The country was bailed out during the eurozone crisis in 2010 by the troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and European Central Bank, which undertook supervision of the nation’s finances under the programme.

With the troika’s support, Ireland issued three lots of bonds, but the forthcoming issue will be the first test of the nation’s sovereign creditworthiness since it exited the protection programme last month. Its credit rating was downgraded during the economic crisis and now stands at BBB+ with both Fitch and Standard and Poor’s and Ba1 with Moody’s.

The NTMA said demand for the issue was high, with bids in excess of €14bn across 400 different investors. The agency said it restricted the amount issued to €3.75bn so it could keep to its funding programme for the remainder of the year.

NTMA chief executive John Corrigan said the interest in the issue showed that both international and domestic investors recognised the progress Ireland has made in recovering from the economic crisis.

‘Today’s transaction is a real success that cements Ireland’s return to the international debt markets and provides a strong platform for bond auctions in 2014,’ he added.