Government to tap anew retail bond market
Maria Eloisa I. CalderonThe government is selling treasury bonds to retail investors the week after next, heeding calls from the market for new debt papers to replace maturing ones.
In a memorandum to banks, acting National Treasurer Roberto B Tan said the Bureau of the Treasury will auction off on July 23 at least P8 billion worth of retail treasury bonds (RTB) with three- and five-year maturities.
The bureau scrapped its planned five-year Treasury bond auction to give way to the RTB offering.
"To provide an investment opportunity for RTB investors, the Republic of the Philippines through the Bureau of the Treasury will auction on July 23, 2007, 3-and 5-year RTBs [with issue date of August 1, 2007] in a minimum aggregate nominal principal amount of P8B," read the memo dated July 12.
"The Bureau is making this announcement ahead of the scheduled auction date to allow the prospective selling agents to start marketing the said bond issue," it added.
Retail T-bonds are sold for as low as P5,000 each.
Bond dealers said appetite for the retail bonds has shored up as the highly liquid market scours for other investment options.
About P38 billion worth of RTBs matured in June, and another P35 billion worth of these papers are maturing this month, a bond dealer said.
"The market has been anticipating an RTB issue since last month. We’ve been asking if the government will replace the maturing RTBs," a bond dealer said.
