Credit Suisse First Boston and UBS will lead manage a Swiss franc-denominated benchmark bond for Italy, which will kickstart the republic's fundraising in the bond markets next year. Italy is the largest government borrower in the eurozone.

The bond, which will be worth around Sfr1bn (€642m), will be launched under Italy's Euro medium-term debt issuance programme in January and is expected to have a maturity of between four and five years. CSFB and UBS also led a Sfr1bn deal that marked Italy's first debt offering in 2003.