ADB prices 1 billion US dollar global bond issue

The Asian Development Bank has announced it returned to the US dollar global bond market on Tuesday with a 1 billion US dollar, five-year global benchmark bond issue.

The issue was conducted via Lead Managers Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Nomura. A syndicate group was formed with CSFB, Daiwa, Deutsche Bank, DrKW, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Mitsubishi Securities, and UBS as co-lead managers, the bank said in a press release.

The bonds, with a coupon rate of 4.125 percent per annum payable semiannually and maturity date of 15 September 2010, were priced at 99.652 percent to yield 20 basis points over the 3.875 percent US Treasury due July 2010, it said.

The deal marks ADB's first in the US dollar global bond market since October 2004, when it launched its 1 billion US dollar, 4.25 percent Global Bonds due October 2014.

ADB Treasurer Mikio Kashiwagi said "after the highly successful 10-year benchmark issue last October, this five-year transaction reinforces ADB's core funding strategy of maintaining a strong presence in key currency bond markets through regular issuance of liquid benchmark global bonds."

As with previous benchmark transactions, the issue achieved broad primary market distribution with about 65 percent of the bonds placed in Asia, 15 percent in the US, and 20 percent in Europe, the bank said.

By investor types, around 70 percent of the bonds went to central banks and government institutions, 12 percent to bank treasuries, 11 percent to insurers and pension funds, 5 percent to fund managers, and 1 percent to others.

Source: Xinhua