In this paper we examine the determinants of non-resident government debt ownership, accounting for domestic and external factors and financial variables during the period 2000Q2-2014Q4, focussing on a small euro area open economy: Portugal. Our results show that better fiscal positions, higher systematic stress in Europe, and higher shares of MFI cross-border holdings of public debt, increase the share of non-resident held debt, and rising sovereign yields decrease that ratio.