EU Said to Sell 3 Billion Euros of Bonds Through EFSM Fund - Businessweek

EU Said to Sell 3 Billion Euros of Bonds Through EFSM Fund - Businessweek: an. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union is selling 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) of 30-year bonds to help pay for the rescues of Ireland and Portugal, in the first deal by the 27-nation bailout fund in more than three months.

The European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism’s bonds will be priced to yield 125 basis points more than the benchmark swap rate today, according to a banker involved in the transaction. The sale is the first from the EFSM, the 60 billion-euro fund of the EU’s executive arm, since it issued bonds due 2018 on Sept. 29, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“It’s somewhere to park your money with relatively low risk, which really is something that many investors are on the hunt for given the ongoing declining scope of safe havens,” said Richard McGuire, a senior fixed-income strategist at Rabobank International in London.