The government hopes to sell the bonds in the first quarter of next year, backing them with a 27% stake in the country's largest food and beverage conglomerate. The bonds would be convertible within three to five years. The government's finance secretary, Jose Pardo, says nearly a dozen investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Credit Suisse First Boston, Salomon Smith Barney, ING Barings and Lehman Brothers, are pitching to arrange the sale, despite the problems that such a deal will carry with it.
The problem is, no-one in the Philippines...
