“We will conduct the auction for the RTB sale on Feb. 21 and the public offering will run until Feb. 28,” Deputy Treasurer Eduardo S. Mendiola told reporters. “We are eyeing a minimum issue size of P40 billion from the sale, P20 billion each from the 15- and 20- year bonds.”

A March 1 settlement date has been tentatively set.

The tenors, National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan told BusinessWorld, “are what banks have proposed to us because there is demand for the long-term papers and there is a yield pick-up for investors.”

Nine banks — BPI Capital Corp., BDO Capital and Investment Corp., China Banking Corp., Development Bank of the Philippines, Deutsche Bank, First Metro Investment Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., and Philippine National Bank — have been tapped as joint issue managers, Mr. Mendiola said.

The government, Mr. Tan has said, is planning to conduct two RTB sales this year, one in the first half and another in the second half.

The government twice conducted RTB sales last year. It raised P104 billion in March from the sale of five- and 10- year RTBs and another P110 billion in October from 10- and 15- year RTBs.

It has programmed P529.5 billion in local borrowings and $4.02 billion in foreign borrowings for this year.

Last month, it raised $1.5 billion from the sale of 25-year dollar-denominated bonds. — Anne Rozainne R. Gregorio

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