EFSF ISSUANCE: RFP for Syndication - MNI expects transaction next week

“Today ESM has sent a Request for Proposal to a selection of banks from the EFSF/ESM Market Group with regards to an upcoming transaction, subject to market conditions.”

• The ESM has E4bln remaining in its funding plan for 2024 (it has already issued a 5-year bond in March for E2bln).
• However, September has typially been the month that the ESM conducts a USD-denominated syndication, so the timing of this RFP (which we would expect to result in a EUR-denominated deal) makes the probability of a USD transaction in 2024 lower, in our view.
• Given that we have just seen a long 3-year and 7-year EFSF issue we think that different maturities are likely to be on offer - so we look for either a 2-year, 5-year or possibly 10-year maturity as possibilities.
• We expect a transaction on Tuesday 3 September or Wednesday 4 September with E2.0bln WNG sold (and a small outside chance of larger - potentially up to the remaining E4.0bln funding need for the remainder of the year).