PHL raises $1.5B from global bond sale

A total of $1.5 billion was raised Wednesday from the government’s issuance of new 5-percent global bonds set to mature in 2037.   Orders reached $12.5 billion as investors checked out the debt sale, said Finance Undersecretary Rosalia de Leon.   The debt sale has allowed the government to save on borrowing costs, the Finance Department revealed in a separate statement.   “The newly issued bonds were priced at par to yield 5 percent or an equivalent of 196.2 basis points over benchmark US Treasuries,” the Department of Finance said.   It also said 35 percent of the investors are from the US. The others came from the Philippines (25 percent), other Asian countries (25 percent), and Europe (15 percent).   The orders were processed by the government for about 15 hours.   The strong demand for Philippine bonds was good news for fiscal authorities.   “We are very pleased to have once again been able to extend the Republic’s maturity profile while at the same time achieving the lowest yield for a new 25-year benchmark US dollar global offering by the Philippines,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said. The debt sale also allowed the country to achieve funding goals, said National Treasurer Roberto Tan.   “Positive investor reception for this transaction allowed us to achieve our funding objectives in support of our fiscal program,” Tan said.   Joint global coordinators for the bond sale were Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.   Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS were the joint bookrunners for the transaction.   The country usually issues global bonds as early as January, ahead of its Asian neighbors, to cover the bulk of its foreign debt requirement for the year.   In January 2011, for instance, some $1.25 billion worth of peso-denominated PHL global bonds were sold.   This was followed by $1.-billion sale of global bonds in March 2011.   For 2012, the government aims to borrow $4.02 billion from external sources:  $2.25 billion to $2.5 billion from the commercial sources, and $1.77 billion worth of program and project loans.   This total is lower than the $4.5 billion the government had on program for 2011, Finance Department data showed. — KG/VS, GMA News