The Republic of the Philippines accessed the international bond markets for the first time in 2005 late on Wednesday January 26 with an increased $1.5 billion 25-year bond issue via Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and UBS.
Prior to the deal, non syndicate banks had been worried the leads would try and push the issue size and indicative pricing too far and reverse the positive spread momentum the sovereign has been enjoying so far this year. Yet in the end, the opposite happened and the huge momentum generated by the deal followed through into the secondary market, leading analysts to confidently predict another 25bp to 30bp of spread tightening over the coming...
