The MEFannounces the issuance of 13,000 million euro of BOTs, auctioned on 12thJanuary 2009 and with settlement on 15th January 2009, consisting of:
| amount (in ml. euro) | Maturity | days | |
| Three-month | 5,500 | 15.04.2009 | 90 |
| One-year | 7,500 | 15.01.2010 | 365 |
Pleasenote that on 15th January 2009, 15,500 million euro of BOTs will reach maturity(of which, 8,500 million euro are three-month BOTs and 7,000 million euro areone-year BOTs).
BOTs areoffered through via a competitive auction and without indication of the minimumprice by the Treasury.
Treasurybills are subscribable for a minimum amount of one thousand euro.
Theprices indicated by dealers participating in auctions for BOTs, expressed inpercentage terms, for all type of securities, may vary by 0.001% or multiplethereof. Bids without price reference will not be admitted to auction.
Each bidshall not be lower than one and a half million euro (1,500,000 €).
Thedealers set forth in the decrees authorising the issuance of the BOTs areeligible for participation in the auction.
Inimplementation of the provisions set forth in Sec.II - Tit. V of LegislativeDecree 24 June 1998, no. 213, on the dematerialization of Government bonds,BOTs are represented by account registrations entered in favour of theentitled.
The Bancad'Italia automatically enters the BOT amounts subscribed at auction and settlesthem through the clearing and settlement facility; the value date will coincidewith the settlement date. On the basis of allocations, the broker allocateeswill credit the related amounts to the subscribers' accounts.
Purchasebids - a maximum of three for each tranche - must be submitted to the Bancad'Italia strictly by means of the national Interbanking network, within and nolater than 11 of 12 January 2009, in accordance with the provisions anddeadline set forth in the issuance decrees.
Pleasenote that should the system malfunction and prevent messages being entered onthe network, the form for participation in the auction must be sent via fax.
Bidsreceived after the deadline set in the issuance decrees will not be considered.Bids in replacement of previously submitted requests will be taken intoconsideration, only if they arrive by the aforementioned deadline. Requestscannot be withdrawn after the aforementioned deadline.
Shouldany dealer's bids exceed, including as a whole, the amount offered by theTreasury, they will be taken into consideration starting from the one at thehighest price, up to the amount offered, unless as otherwise provided for inthe issuance decrees.
OutstandingBOTs at 2 January 2009 amounted to 159,302,666 million euro, of which 2,500million euro are 76-days BOTs, 15,000 million euro are 3-month BOTs, 62,646million euro are half-yearly BOTs and 79,156,666 million euro are yearly BOTs.