Petrobras Pays Up: The High Price Of Issuing A 100 Year Bond

The scandal-surrounded, junk-rated, state-managed Brazilian oil producer Petrobras managed to successfully issue a $2.5 billion notional 100-year bond yesterday. Mainstream media is cock-a-hoop over the fact that the ‘market’ seemed to soak this bond up so easily and at a yield of 8.45% (which was 20-30bps below guidance) amid an order book apparently up to asround $10 billion. However, for those with some math skills, the truth is that it cost Petrobras around $380 million more than market-implied levels to successfully launch the bond (and so it should).
Petrobras is not the first to issue a Century-bond (as the following chart from Bond Vigilantes shows back in 2010)

This post was published at Zero Hedge on 06/02/2015.