By Joann Santiago
MANILA, Jan. 7 (PNA) — The Philippine government successfully issued USD 2 billion-worth of new 25-year US dollar-denominated global bonds to the international debt market.
The freshly-issued paper has a coupon rate of 3.95 percent, the lowest-ever for global bonds issued by the government, and proceeds of which will be used to pay bonds offered for swap.
In a statement Wednesday, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the offering received USD13.5 billion orders, bulk of which came from the US at 47 percent, followed by Asia at 41 percent, and Europe at 12 percent.
The exercise involves the exchange of 15 series of existing bonds due 2016 to 2034.
The government received USD4.4 billion-worth of bonds for exchange and accepted USD1.5 billion.
“We continue to pursue liability management transactions that provide opportunities to reduce high coupon debt while achieving interest expense savings which the government can instead use for more inclusive initiatives,” Purisima said.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon meanwhile said the government further reduced its debt repayment risks through this new liability management exercise.
“Despite the volatility we have seen at the start of the year, we continue to see strong support by investors in our bond program which enabled the Republic to achieve a stronger fiscal position for the Philippines. The series of liability management programs has significantly reduced debt repayment risks,” she added.
The government tapped Deutsche Bank and HSBC as joint global coordinators and dealer managers for the transaction with HSBC as the Billing and Delivery bank.
Also, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS acted as joint bookrunners. (PNA)