Eurobond round two in May? The Finance Ministry could go to market with a second eurobond worth USD 2 bn as early as the first half of May, government sources tell Al Borsa. The government is reportedly in talks with investment banks on the timing the transaction and the current state of debt markets. It is hard to gauge the level of investor appetite for another eurobond issue, the source said, but all options are on the table, including boosting the offer size to USD 3 bn if appetite is there.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves: Al Borsa is breaking the news as an exclusive, and parts of the statement from the source could imply that this may simply be the distribution of additional amount of an already-issued bond.

If this is a new issue, the ministry is looking to replicate the success of its USD 4 bn multi-tier eurobond sale back in January. BNP Paribas, Citi, JP Morgan and Natixis had been tapped as joint lead managers on the January issue. The government announced last week that it intends to go to market with as much as USD 3 bn in additional international bonds this year to take advantage of lower interest rates on foreign-currency borrowing, with sources suggesting that this could take place in the second half of the year.