MANILA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The Philippines has hired four
banks to manage its planned three-year and nine-year
euro-denominated bond offering, its national treasurer said on
Monday, which will help finance a 12% increase in this year's
budget.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the government was
looking at a "benchmark" issue, but the timing of the offer will
depend on market conditions.
UBS, Citigroup, Standard Chartered Bank, and Credit Suisse
are joint lead managers and joint bookrunners, De Leon told
reporters.
The Philippines will hold investor calls, De Leon said, to
gauge appetite for the offering, which follows a similar issue
in May last year when Manila raised 750 million euros ($832.20
million) in eight-year euro-denominated bonds. "We would want to approach European investors coming from a
very strong order book last year," De Leon said.
One of Asia's most active sovereign bond issuers, the
Philippines is raising funds to help finance its 4.1 trillion
peso ($80.52 billion) budget this year, which is 12% more than
last year's spending plan. Standard & Poor's and Fitch have assigned BBB+ and BBB
ratings for planned euro bond issue, the same as the country's
credit rating.
($1 = 0.9012 euros)
($1 = 50.9200 Philippine pesos)