P134-B retail treasury bonds sold

MANILA -- The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Tuesday sold PHP134 billion worth of three-year retail treasury bonds (RTB) during the rate setting auction, which saw the debt paper fetching a 4.375 percent coupon rate.

Volume issued during the day’s auction is more than four times the PHP30billion offer, while tenders reached PHP149.827 billion.

The debt paper will be offered to the public until

February 6, 2020 through the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), which are the joint lead issue managers for the 23rd RTB issuance.

Banks tapped as joint issue managers are the BDO Capital and Investment Corporation, BPI Capital Corporation, China Bank Capital Corporation, First Metro Investment Corporation, PNB Capital and Investment Corporation, RCBC Capital Corporation, and SB Capital Investment Corporation.

A switch exercise will be done for the three-year RTB issued last 2018 during the offer period for the latest RTB.

National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon told journalists after the auction that there are about PHP180 billion worth of three-year RTBs that will mature in April.

De Leon said while not all of the holders of this debt paper are expected to take advantage of the switch offer, the BTr has the funds for those that will be submitted during its maturity.

She said they have decided to set a daily switch

tenders offer of PHP15 billion during the RTB sale but stressed this will depend on the demand for the debt paper in the coming days.

“We reserve the right how much we will accept so it can also be upsized,” she added.

RTBs are intended for small investors since minimum placement is PHP5,000. They can make additional investment of PHP5,000 per lot.

Since the first RTB issuance in 2001 until last year, the government has issued a total of PHP2.3trillion retail bond. (PNA)