STRONG demand from domestic and international investors has allowed Irish Permanent to increase the size of its latest 4 1/2 year corporate to £60 million. The funds were placed in the market yesterday by NCB on a yield of 0.4 of a percentage point above corresponding Government gilts.

This is the fourth time that Irish Permanent has raised funds on the debt markets and the second time since the group converted from a building society to a publicly quoted bank in 1994.

The £60 million is not designated for any specific purpose and will be used for general funding, Irish Permanent treasurer, Mr Michael Torpey said.

Mr Torpey said that the £60 million raised was "fairly priced" and added: "The terms compete with anything we might have raised out of London."

The latest bond will be listed on the Dublin market, and is the first corporate bond to be launched on the Irish market since the split with the London market. Mr Torpey said that between a quarter and a third of the issue was taken up by overseas institutions.

The bonds will carry a nominal coupon of 6.75 per cent but, as buyers are paying £99.065 per £100 of stock, the semi annual yield on the stock is 6.89 per cent compared to a semi annual yield of 6.59 per cent on gilts. The issue was underwritten by Ulster Bank Markets and NatWest Markets and was placed by Ulster Bank subsidiary, NCB.

Commenting on the fact that Irish Permanent did not use its own stockbroker, Riada, for this latest bond issue, Mr Torpey said: "On the debt side of the market, being the broker doesn't matter, it's down to who comes up with the product we need."

He added that Irish Permanent has used three different stockbroking firms - Davy, Riada and NCB - in the four recent bond issues.