Greece said to plan 2 billion-euro bond sale in first half

Nikos Chrysoloras & Rebecca Christie

The Greek government, approaching the end of a second international bailout that has kept it afloat since 2010, plans a return to markets by selling 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion) of bonds, three officials said.

Only the exact timing remains to be resolved, one Greek official said on condition of anonymity because the plans aren’t yet public. Another Greek official said this doesn’t exclude the possibility of further sales later, with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reporting that Greece hopes to raise as much as 5 billion euros on financial markets this year.

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said on Tuesday that market financing would complement Greece’s other efforts to line up a year of financing, a condition of unlocking money from the International Monetary Fund. Greece “fully satisfies” the 12-month funding condition, he said.

“A small issuance of bonds, three- or five-year bonds, in the first semester, somehow in the first semester of 2014, will also contribute to the financing needs of Greece,” Stournaras told reporters in Athens after a meeting of European Union finance ministers.

The timing of the bond offering will depend on market conditions and will definitely come after the government has met all conditions for the release of 6.3 billion euros of bailout aid, which euro-area finance ministers endorsed on Tuesday. Greece also is in line for an additional two payments of 1 billion euros each in subsequent months.

“With Greece still having an extremely high debt ratio and high outright yields, it’s easy to be skeptical,” said Lyn Graham-Taylor, a fixed-income strategist at Rabobank International in London. “However, the 10-year yield is below...