ShareThisMANILA – After the successful sale of $1 billion bonds last September, the government is again planning to issue $1 billion to $1.5 billion into the global debt market with a peso global bond float.
National Treasurer Roberto Tan said the government is still “firming up timing of the float to take advantage of favorable market conditions.”
Tan said the government was given the go-ahead for a maximum volume of $1.5 billion by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) but would likely limit the issuance to $1 billion.
“We’re comfortable with $1 billion; $1.5 billion is only the maximum,” Tan said.
He said the terms are still study, but a 25-year tenor would likely be included.
Tan said if the performance in the secondary market of its first global peso bond issue is any indication, the second issue would likely attract investors.
“The first global peso sold in September was selling good and giving good gains in the secondary market,” he said.
Philippines as one of the best BPO sites in the world, have made the country among the “hottest destinations for all of these investments,” he said.
“So, will I say it (global-peso bonds) will be 13 times oversubscribed, I don’t know. But we think it will be in that general frame…the response will be in the same vein as what happened in the first global offering,” he added.
Last September, the government issued 10-year, peso-denominated global bonds priced at 99.607 percent with a coupon of 4.95 percent and a yield of 5 percent.
The sale, which was participated in by a mix of Asian, American and European investors, netted for the country $ 1-billion (P44.1 billion) after only 16 hours of its issuance with bids reaching over 13 times the offer.
President Aquino lauded the sale, saying, “The success of the peso bond float is a quantifiable and real vote of confidence in the country and the government, particularly our economic managers.”