P175B raised via retail treasury bonds sale

The government sold a total of P175 billion in retail treasury bonds (RTBs) aimed at small investors.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the Bureau of the Treasury received more than P500 billion in tenders for the three-year RTBs, the government’s 19th issuance.

“We accepted more than P105 billion in addition to the P70 billion from the auction,” De Leon said in a text message on Friday, hence exceeding the target of at least P100 billion. This was also almost six times bigger than the P30-billion minimum offering.

Last week, the Treasury sold to banks more than double the minimum offering after it generated P86.172 billion in tenders, making the auction almost three times oversubscribed.

The coupon rate was set at 4.25 percent for the bonds maturing on April 11, 2020, higher than the 3.5 percent yield for the 10-year RTBs sold in September last year.

The RTBs were also offered to the general investing public at a minimum of P5,000 from March 28 to April 6.

De Leon said the latest RTB issuance was in line with the Treasury’s aspiration to “really reach small investors far and wide.”

The Treasury tapped First Metro Investment Corp. and state-run Land Bank of the Philippines as joint lead issue managers.

The joint issue managers were BDO Capital and Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., state-run Development Bank of the Philippines, and SB Capital Corp.

Last September, the Treasury issued P100 billion in 10-year RTBs, more than triple the P30-billion minimum offering.

The 18th RTB sale of the Philippine government was the first issuance under President Duterte, aimed at augmenting funds for programs under the administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda, especially infrastructure projects.