Petronas launches $650m bond

Petronas launches $650m bond

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian national oil company Petroliam
Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) launched a US$650 million five-year bond
issue in New York Thursday, the official Bernama news agency
reported.

The report said the issue carried a coupon on 8.875 percent
and was priced at 99.772 to yield 8.934 percent, or 3.20
percentage points above the corresponding yield on US Treasury
bonds with similar maturities.

Lead managers were Barclays Capital and Chase Manhattan, with
Credit Suisse First Boston acting as bookrunner, the report said,
adding 33 percent of the issue was taken up by investors in the
United States, 25 percent going to Japan, 25 percent to the rest
of Asia and 17 percent to Europe.

Proceeds will be used to finance capital expenditure for
petrochemical projects and other development and production
activities, it said.