By Clarissa Batino

Source: Bloomberg.com Feb 15 2011 -

The Philippines has hired five banks to sell 5- and 10-year bonds targeted at individual investors,

Treasurer Roberto Tan said.

State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, First Metro Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp. and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. will be selling the bonds starting next week, Tan said in a phone interview today.

The Philippines has been spurning high bids at debt auctions since last month to cap borrowing costs and is

examining other funding options to plug its budget deficit. The country has been tapping funds from individuals since 2001 and has raised more than 200 billion pesos ($4.6 billion) from so-called retail treasury bond sales in the past two years.

The government may also sell Samurai bonds, or yen-denominated notes sold in Japan by overseas borrowers, Tan said.

The $161 billion Asian economy had recorded budget deficits in 22 of the past 26 years. It is seeking to narrow the shortfall this year to about 290 billion pesos from an estimated record 310 billion pesos in 2010.

The government plans to auction at least 10 billion pesos each of five- and 10-year bonds on Feb. 22 for “price setting,” Deputy Treasurer Eduardo Mendiola said in a mobile phone text-message today. The government may sell another batch of the debt by the third quarter, Mendiola said yesterday.

About 28.8 billion pesos of three- and five-year retail bonds, sold in denominations as low as 5,000 pesos, will mature in July and in December, based on Bloomberg data. The Philippines sold 97.5 billion pesos of the bonds in August 2010 and 114.4 billion pesos in September 2009.

Maturing government debt in March will give investors additional cash to deploy, Tan said. About 90.6 billion pesos of five-year bonds will be due next month.

The government will meet with investors in Manila, Cebu and Davao next week, Mendiola said today

To be updated on Government Security Offerings check www.treasury.gov.ph

A list of GSED – Government securities accredited dealers can also be found there.

Announcement re RTB 13 Offering here: http://www.treasury.gov.ph/govsec/puboffering/others.pdf