DBRS Assigns A (low) Rating to Ireland’s New 3-Year Bond

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today assigned a rating of A (low) with a Negative trend to the Republic of Ireland’s €3.5 billion three-year Euro-denominated Treasury bond. The bond bears a coupon of 4.5%. This rating is equalised with the long term foreign and local currency ratings of the Republic of Ireland.

The bond was issued by the National Treasury Management Agency on January 25. The proceeds of the issuance will be used for general financing purposes of the Exchequer. The interest commencement date is 1 February 2012, which is also the first settlement date. Interest on the bond will be paid annually on 18 February at a rate of 4.50%. The first interest payment date will be 18 February 2013 (383 days) at a rate of 4.70959%. The principal of the bond will be repaid at par on 18 February 2015.

The last rating action DBRS took on Ireland was on 17 August 2011, when DBRS downgraded Ireland’s long term foreign and local currency ratings to A (low) from “A”, and maintained the Negative trend.

Notes:
All figures are in Euros (EUR) unless otherwise noted.

The principal applicable methodology is Rating Sovereign Governments, which can be found on the DBRS website under Methodologies.

The sources of information used for this rating include the National Treasury Management Agency, Finance Ministry Department of Finance, Central Bank of Ireland, European Commission, IMF, CSO, Eurostat, AMECO. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

This credit rating has been issued outside the European Union (EU) and may be used for regulatory purposes by financial institutions in the EU.

Lead Analyst: Fergus McCormick
Approver: Alan G. Reid
Initial Rating Date: 21 July 2010
Most Recent Rating Update: 17 August 2011

For additional information on DBRS’s ratings on the Republic of Ireland, please refer to the linking document under Related Research.