The Philippines, one of Asia’s most active sovereign debt issuers, has launched its maiden sukuk bonds issue, according to a government announcement on Monday, mandating banks involved to arrange the sale.
The bonds would have 5.5-year tenors in the first such debt issue from the Philippines, which the government had earlier said would be launched this month. No target was given for how much the government hoped to raise.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno had in September said he hoped to generate $1 billion from the maiden offer, with the government to target institutional funds in the Middle East which would be allowed to buy a mininum $200,000 in sukuk bonds.
The Philippines plans to borrow around $44 billion from debt markets, with about a quarter of that coming from foreign sources, to fund the government’s 5.77 trillion pesos budget for next year.
Banks involved in the issue had been mandated to arrange a series of fixed income investor calls in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States starting on Monday, the government said.
– Reporting by Karen Lema; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Kim Coghill
