Cyprus bonds to trade on euro platform

The Central Bank of Cyprus announced that two eurobond issues previously made by the Republic of Cyprus will commence trading on the NewEuroMTS electronic trading platform from Monday, June 27, 2005.

The two eurobond issues are the EUR 500 mln bonds earning 4.375% and maturity 2014 and the EUR 550 mln bond earning a coupon of 5.5%, maturing 2012.

The NewEuroMTS platform is part of the Europe-wide electronic platform EuroMTS where the local currency issued bonds of the 10 new EU member states expressed in euros will trade.

The electronic trading of bonds on the NewEuroMTS started operations in November 2003 aimed primarily at facilitating the entry of the bonds issued by the ten then candidate countries with the European trading system.

According to the Central Bank, about 24 international banks trade on NewEuroMTS with an obligation to offer continuous bid and offer prices on the bond trades, which are cleared through Euroclear or Clearstream.

The Central Bank hopes that the debut of the two Cyprus issued eurobonds on NewEuroMTS will increase their marketability and result in added liquidity, which in future will facilitate other issues by the Republic.