EFSF mandates banks for five-year euro bond

LONDON, Jan 28 (IFR) - The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) said on Monday it had mandated Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland for a new five-year euro benchmark bond.

Initial price thoughts have been set at mid-swaps plus high teens, a banking source said. Books are likely to open on Tuesday, subject to market conditions, the source added.

The EFSF, rated Aa1/AA+/AAA, raised market eyebrows in December when it announced a sharp increase in its scheduled long-term bond issuance for 2013 from EUR45bn to EUR58bn.

However, a blow-out EUR6bn seven-year syndicated deal earlier this month showed that the emergency fund currently has no trouble in raising money in European capital markets.

(Reporting by Natalie Harrison and John Geddie, IFR Markets, editing by Julian Baker)