Manila expects to price bond 'in days'<\/p>\n
Dow Jones, Bali, Indonesia<\/p>\n
The Philippines expects to price its planned global bond offer
\nwithin a matter of days, the country's top finance official said
\nin an interview on Saturday on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe
\nMeeting.<\/p>\n
\"It should happen sometime soon...in days,\" Finance Secretary
\nJose Isidro Camacho told Dow Jones Newswires. \"In days, we expect
\nto hear from (the underwriters) about what the reception has
\nbeen. It's really just a question of getting feedback from
\ninvestors,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The government has mandated Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche
\nBank Securities and JP Morgan as joint bookrunners for the
\nsovereign bond, which is likely to be worth at least $500 million
\nto cover the financing requirements of state utility National
\nPower Corp., or Napocor. The issue will likely have a maturity of
\n10.5 years.<\/p>\n
In the Philippines, people close to the matter said last week
\nthat the offering could reach as much as US$1 billion, to cover
\nboth Napocor's requirements and part of the government's own
\nfunding needs.<\/p>\n
The government has a foreign financing requirement of $400
\nmillion over the rest of the year, down from the originally set
\n$900 million after the government raised extra funds from the
\nissuance of local retail treasury bonds.<\/p>\n
Camacho declined to confirm the size of the Napocor bond,
\nsaying it was \"too early to say\" how the government will raise
\nthe $400 million foreign financing requirement. \"We'll keep our
\noptions open. There's no urgency at the moment\" because of the
\nsuccessful treasury bond issue.<\/p>\n
The sovereign debt issue is in lieu of a $500 million global
\nbond that Napocor scrapped last week due to the high yield sought
\nby investors.<\/p>\n
The market was asking for about 125 basis points over
\nPhilippine sovereign notes, mainly because of the fear that
\ninvestors might get stuck with Napocor bonds, while the sovereign
\nis more liquid, Camacho said.<\/p>\n
\"We'd rather have the Republic of the Philippines do the issue
\nand lend it on internally to Napocor,\" he said. Last year, the
\ngovernment lent Napocor $750 million due to poor demand for debt
\nissued directly by the company.<\/p>\n
On the budget deficit, the secretary said he was confident the
\ncountry will meet its 2002 budget deficit target of 202 billion
\npesos this year.<\/p>\n
\"We're certainly going at a pace where we should be able to
\nmeet that comfortably,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the first five months, the deficit was 75.4 billion pesos,
\nlower than the target 88.6 billion pesos for the period.<\/p>\n
That trend is likely to continue in June's deficit figures -
\nwhich haven't yet been released - due to rising customs receipts
\nand tighter expenditures in the month, Camacho said. \"The June
\nnumbers are looking good,\" he said<\/p>\n
Last year, the government's budget deficit hit a record high
\nof 212.7 billion pesos.<\/p>",
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