EU hires banks for new 15-year bond sale - lead manager

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The European Union hired a syndicate of banks on Monday for the sale of a new 15-year bond as part of its 'SURE' COVID-19 recovery plan, according to a lead manager memo seen by Reuters.

The bond, labelled as a social bond, and due July 4 2035, will be launched "in the near future, subject to market conditions", the memo said, a phrase debt management offices usually use a day before a sale.

The EU mandated Citi, HSBC, JP Morgan, LBBW and Societe Generale for the new sale, according to the memo.

It will be the EU's third debt sale to fund the SURE programme of up to 100 billion euros. The bloc issued 10- and 20-year bonds in October and 5- and 30-year bonds earlier in November.

(Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli; editing by Marc Jones)