Gov’t generates P110B from sale of retail bonds

The Bureau of the Treasury raised P110.1 billion from the week-long offering of the latest issue of retail treasury bonds, which included 10-year and 15-year debt paper.

National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan said Tuesday that the 10-year bonds accounted for P54.97 billion while the 15-year paper contributed P55.12 billion.

The 10-year RTBs carried a coupon of 5.75 percent while the 15-year securities fetched 6.25 percent.

Of the total amount raised, P20 billion was secured during a price-setting auction held last week, P31.64 billion came from subscriptions from public investors coursed through eligible dealers and P5.64 billion was sold to government-owned and -controlled corporations.

The remaining P53 billion was covered by the Treasury’s bond sinking fund, which is a reserve that the Treasury is required to maintain to ensure that there is enough fund to redeem maturing government securities.

“It’s a good volume,” Tan said of the amount raised, noting that it was higher than the P104 billion raised last March from the issuance of the previous batch of RTBs.

For the latest batch, the Treasury tapped as issue managers First Metro Investment Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., BDO Capital, BPI Capital and Land Bank of the Philippines.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Development Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank, China Banking Corp. and Deutsche Bank were named as arrangers.

Also on Tuesday, the Treasury rejected bids on the 91-day and 192-day treasury bills.

At the same time, the yield on the 364-day bill rose 61.7 basis points to 1.75 percent following a full award for that offer.