The Philippine central bank has approved in principle the government's planned sale of as much as $1.5 billion in global bonds, Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said on Thursday, paving the way for Manila's return to the overseas debt market as early as January.
The Philippines, one of Asia's largest sovereign issuers of foreign currency debt, intends to sell 10-year and 25-year global bonds, said a government source who declined to be named. Guinigundo confirmed that information to Reuters. Manila is assessing market conditions before setting the exact timing of the debt sale, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said. Finance officials had previously said Manila was considering selling global bonds in January.
The Southeast Asian country has a history of issuing sovereign bonds early in the year to get favourable borrowing terms and raise the bulk of its foreign debt needs before the markets get volatile. Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, HSBC, J.P. Morgan Chase, Standard Chartered Plc and UBS AG were included in a shortlist of banks handling the global bond sale, Tan said.
The Philippines will be going back to the market after neighbour Indonesia got a one-notch upgrade to investment grade from Fitch Ratings. Fitch ranks the Philippines one notch below investment grade. "There's so much money chasing Asean (assets)," Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima told reporters, when asked if Indonesia's credit rating upgrade would dampen interest in Manila's debt issue.
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