Govt eyes $1B from ‘samurai’ bonds
THE government aims to raise as much as $1 billion (P50.89 billion) from its newly launched multitenor “samurai” bonds program, the Bureau of the Treasury announced on Tuesday.
“We are already in the (Japanese) market (with) the initial price guidance for the three, five, seven and 10-year tenor,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said in an interview.
Samurai bonds are yen-denominated securities issued by non-Japanese entities in Tokyo.
“We are still looking at up to $750 million (in proceeds), and if there would still be some room to adjust, then we can go as high as $1 billion,” de Leon said.
The pricing for the samurai bonds would be determined within the week and should be issued by August 8.
According to de Leon, the samurai bond program is part of the government’s diversification of its funding sources.
The government last sold samurai bonds in August last year, when it raised 154.2 billion yen or $1.39 billion — a result the government described as reflective of strong investor interest in the country.
The three-, five-, and 10-year tenors that made up the offering raised 107.2 billion, 6.2 billion and 40.8 billion yen, respectively.
The bond issuance fetched coupon rates of 0.38 percent, 0.54 percent and 0.99 percent for the three-, five- and 10-year tenors, respectively.
Overall, the transaction yielded a weighted average spread of 34.7 basis points above the benchmark.
The transaction was settled on Aug. 15, 2018.