$3B from global bonds sale going to national budget

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon / INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Philippines raised $3 billion from a dual-tranche US dollar-denominated global bonds offering, which will be injected into the national budget.

Of the total, 25-year bonds accounted for $2.25 billion while the rest were 10.5-year bonds. The IOUs will be settled on July 6.

This was bigger than the $2.75-billion dollar bonds issued in December last year.

In a statement, the Bureau of the Treasury said the 25-year bonds fetched a yield of 3.25 percent and a 3.2-percent coupon, which was 30 basis points (bps) tighter than the initial pricing guidance of 3.55 percent. The shorter tenor was priced at US treasury spreads of T+60 bps with a 1.95-percent coupon, tighter than the initial price of T+90 bps by 30 bps.

“The heavy bias toward the 25-year offering underscores the enduring attractiveness of Philippine credit even against the many waves of tribulations stemming from this pandemic. Investors see that our economic revival is imminent, strong, and long-lasting,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said.

“The success of this second issuance of global bonds this year [which followed the euro bond offering in April], highlights the continuing confidence of the international investor community in the Philippines,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

So far, the Philippines has already raised $6 billion of the planned $7-billion borrowings to be sourced from offshore commercial debt markets for 2021. It sold $2.5 billion in euro-denominated global bonds plus $500 million in samurai bonds. De Leon earlier said the Philippines was also looking at returning to the panda bond market.

On Tuesday, the Treasury sold P35 billion in 20-year T-bonds with remaining life of 11 years and eight months at an average annual rate of 4.187 percent. INQ