July 29 (Reuters) – Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said on Thursday Manila was looking at a structure where the government will take on any tax liabilities related to its planned global peso bond issue this year. (Reporting by Karen Lema)
QTC issues A$4.4 bln in 2011 & 2012 bond exchange
July 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment
(For the latest Australia and New Zealand bond news, double
click on [AU/CRD] and then double click on the ID number)
SYDNEY, July 23 (Reuters) – Queensland Treasury Corp, the
state’s funding arm, has issued a total of A$4.4 billion ($3.93
billion) in new 2011 and 2012 bonds in exchange for
government-guaranteed bonds, sole lead UBS said on Friday.
The borrower issued A$2.7 billion in June 2011 bonds with a
yield 14 basis points above the QTC 2011 Australia-guaranteed
line and A$1.7 billion in April 2012 bonds with a yield 15 bps
above the QTC’s 2012 Australia-guaranteed bonds.
(Reporting by Cecile Lefort)
Greece, Spain bonds good for China -EU trade chief
July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
July 22 (Reuters) – China’s purchases of bonds from Greece and Spain are a good investment and will keep their value, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Thursday.
The several hundreds of millions of euros bought pose no risk for China, De Gucht told reporters at a news conference. (Reporting by Farah Master; Writing by Jacqueline Wong; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
Temasek eyeing benchmark sterling bond sale-sources
July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
July 19 (Reuters) – Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] is looking to sell sterling-denominated bonds, its first issue in the British currency, sources with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
Temasek could do a benchmark issue — which in industry terms is at least $500 million equivalent, sources said.
UBS (UBSN.VX), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), HSBC (HSBA.L) are likely to be lead managers for the sale, sources said.
Temasek and the banks declined to comment.
“They see sterling as an additional pool of capital for them,” said one of the sources who spoke to Reuters.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Kevin Lim; additional reporting by Saikat Chatterjee in Hong Kong)
South Korea c.bank sells 91-day MSBs at 2.37 pct
July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
July 12 (Reuters) – Following are the results of the South Korean central bank’s auction of 91-day monetary stabilisation bonds (MSBs) on Monday:
Tenor Offer Tendered Awarded Avg rate Previous
(in trillion won) (pct) (July 5)
91-day 1.0 0.64 0.63 2.37 2.24
(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Philippines’ Treasury to open tap facility for 20-yr T-bonds
July 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
July 6 (Reuters) – The Philippines’ Bureau of Treasury said on Tuesday it will sell 8.5 billion pesos ($183 million) of 20-year bonds via a tap facility after it received huge offers at a regular auction for the debt paper.
The bonds to be offered would carry the same terms as the 20-year paper sold at Tuesday’s auction, the Treasury said. [ID:nMNA002804]
($1= 46.5 pesos)
(Reporting by Karen Lema)
Indonesia aims to sell 4 trln rph bonds on July 6
July 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
July 1 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s finance ministry expects to raise 4 trillion rupiah ($441.7 million) worth of conventional bonds via an auction on July 6, it said in a statement on Thursday.
The ministry holds regular debt auctions, the proceeds of which are used to help plug the state budget deficit. ($1=9,055 Rupiah) (Reporting by Dicky Kristanto and Adriana Nina Kusuma; Writing by Gde Anugrah Arka; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
Czech president to name Civic Dem leader as new PM
June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 27 (Reuters) – Czech President Vaclav Klaus will name Civic Democrat leader Petr Necas as the next prime minister on Monday at 0800 GMT, he said in a television interview on Sunday.
Bonds | Global Markets
“Tomorrow at 10 a.m. I will name Petr Necas as prime minister at the castle,” Klaus said.
Necas is leading coalition talks with two other centre-right parties, TOP09 and Public Affairs, after the three won a combined 118 seats out of 200 in a May 28-29 election. (Reporting by Jason Hovet)
Greek pension reform to be fair, viable – PM
June 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 25 (Reuters) – Greece’s pension reform will be fair and is needed to make the system viable, Prime Minister George Papandreou told parliament ahead of a cabinet meeting meant to agree a pension reform plan.
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“Today we want to succeed on two fronts, to have a pension system that is viable … and fair,” the Prime Minister said on Friday.
Opinion polls show a very large majority of Greeks oppose the pension reform and unions will stage a general 24-hour strike on June 29.
The cabinet meeting is meant to agree on a major overhaul of the debt-choked country’s ailing pension system and to ease labour rules to make it easier to fire staff, key requirements of a 110-billion euro EU/IMF bailout programme. (Reporting by Tatiana Fragou and Ingrid Melander)
Romania court rules some cuts illegal – agency
June 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 25 (Reuters) – Romania’s Constitutional Court rejected some parts of a key austerity package related to pensions on Friday, endangering a vital IMF-led aid deal, local news agency Agerpres reported, citing judicial sources.
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The court said an official announcement would follow shortly.
Disbursement of about 2 billion euros in aid from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union depended on the court’s approval of a government move to slash state wages by a quarter and cut pensions by 15 percent.
The IMF deal is the main anchor for foreign investors, whose cash is vital to the struggling recession-hit economy. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Sam Cage; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Deals of the day — mergers and acquisitions
June 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
(Reuters) – The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 0530 GMT on Friday.
Mergers & Acquisitions | Bonds | Global Markets | Funds News | ETFs News
(For Reuters columns on deals, click on [DEALTALK/])
** A senior executive at China’s Bright Food Group met with Australian conglomerate CSR Ltd (CSR.AX) this week for talks to secure a $1.4 billion sale of CSR’s sugar arm, three people familiar with the deals said. To read more, please double click on [ID:nSGE65O01X]
** Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co [KKR.UL] said that CVC Asia-Pacific has decided not to join KKR’s $1.5 billion bid for Healthscope (HSP.AX), which is Australia’s biggest private equity bid since 2008. [ID:nSGE65N0KB] (Compiled by Tina Kwan in Singapore)
TREASURIES-Inch up, but 10-yr yield off 1-mth low
June 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 25 (Reuters) – U.S. 10-year Treasuries inched higher in Asian trade on Friday, pushing the 10-year yield back towards a one-month low hit the previous day.
Bonds
* Treasuries seem to be caught in a tug-of-war between traders betting that the 10-year yield could drop towards 3 percent and other market players that think the rally has gone far enough, said Junji Kojima, senior deputy manager for Sompo Japan Insurance’s global securities investment department.
* “I don’t think it would be a surprise if the 10-year yield makes a try for 3 percent, given the way momentum has been picking up,” Kojima said, referring to the recent rally in Treasuries.
* But Kojima added that he doubted that any such drop in yields would last that long. Current Treasury yield levels seem to be factoring in the possibility of a double-dip U.S. recession, he said, adding that such a scenario seems unlikely at this point.
* Ten-year Treasury notes rose about 3/32 in price to yield 3.123 percent US10YT=RR, down around 2 basis points from late U.S. trade on Thursday. The 10-year yield hit a one-month low of 3.065 percent on Thursday. A fall to below 3.064 percent would take the 10-year yield down to its lowest since April 2009.
* The 10-year yield has declined roughly 10 basis points this week, partly on concerns that the U.S. economy may be relapsing into weakness after a short and tepid recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s.
* Ten-year note futures edged up 2.5/32 in price to 121-13/32 TYv1. (Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Joseph Radford)
Finnish government wins confidence vote as expected
June 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 24 (Reuters) – The new Finnish government of Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi won a parliamentary confidence vote on Thursday as expected.
Bonds
The Nordic country’s four party coalition government, which holds a clear majority in parliament, won the vote 118-66 with 15 parliamentarians absent.
The vote ends a government reshuffle process that started last Friday when then prime minister Matti Vanhanen stepped down as planned. Kiviniemi won a parliament vote on Tuesday to become prime minister and was sworn in later that day.
(Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen, Writing by Brett Young)
Malaysia’s Axiata to sell 4.2 bln rgt sukuk in July
June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 22 (Reuters) – Malaysia’s No. 2 telecoms firm Axiata (AXIA.KL) will issue 4.2 billion ringgit ($1.32 billion) of sukuk by end July to refinance existing debt, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday.
Financials
Axiata’s unit Celcom Axiata Bhd will issue the Islamic bonds with tenor of 5, 7 and 10 years, Yusof Annuar Yaacob said.
“Credit markets being reasonably buoyant domestically, we’ve decided to use the opportunity to basically lengthen our tenor from the two years to the 5, 7 and 10 (years) and at the same time, get a fixed rate facility as opposed to floating,” Yusof told Reuters by telephone.
“Interest rates have moved up twice in Malaysia so we think it’s probably a good time to start locking in long-term rates.”
The sukuk would be based on the commodity murabaha structure, he said. CIMB (CIMB.KL) and the investment banking arm of top lender Malayan Banking Bhd (MBBM.KL) are handling the deal.
Axiata had said in January it could sell Islamic bonds to refinance about 4 billion ringgit of borrowings. [ID:nSGE60K0AP]
($1=3.186 Malaysian Ringgit)
(Click on [ID:nISLAMIC] for more Islamic finance stories and ISLAMIC for a speed guide) (Reporting by Liau Y-Sing; Editing by Julie Goh) ((y-sing.liau@thomsonreuters.com; +603 2333 8083; Reuters Messaging: y-sing.liau.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
German borrowing target smaller than expected-paper
June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 22 (Reuters) – The German government’s net new borrowing need is likely to be much lower than forecast this year and next, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Bonds | Global Markets
Thanks to improving tax revenues and lower than expected spending on unemployment benefits, the federal new borrowing requirement was likely to be between 60 billion and 65 billion euros ($74 billion and $80 billion) in 2010, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said.
Citing a budget paper from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling centre-right coalition, the paper said net new borrowing in 2011 could total around 55 billion euros — below a figure of nearly 72 billion previously published in mid-term planning.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble recently said net new borrowing was likely to come in at around 65 billion euros this year — below a sum previously estimated at some 80 billion. (Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Jan Dahinten)
Spain Econ Min says does not rule out tax hikes
June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 22 (Reuters) – Spain does not rule out the possibility of tax hikes in order to meet its target of reducing its budget deficit, Economy Minister Elena Salgado said in an interview with Expansion newspaper published on Tuesday.
Bonds | Global Markets
“We do not rule out anything,” she said. “We must ensure that the sum of our income allows us to meet our spending within the expected budget deficit. That’s a condition.”
Spain aims for the ratio of its budget deficit to gross domestic product to fall to 3 percent in 2013 from 9.3 percent this year.
US Senator Schumer: Congress must up pressure on China
June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 20 (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said on Sunday China’s gradual approach to lifting its currency peg amounted to “backing off” its promises, and urged strong legislation that might force further changes.
Currencies | Bonds | Global Markets
A day after announcing fresh changes to its exchage rate regime, China on Sunday explicitly ruled out a one-time revaluation of the yuan, which U.S. officials say is artificially — and unfairly — low.
“Just a day after there was much hoopla about the Chinese finally changing their policy, they are already backing off. It vindicates our initial skepticism,” said Schumer, a prominent voice on the issue of China’s exchange rate in Washington.
“We intend to move forward as quickly as possible with legislation,” he said. “It is only strong legislation that will get the Chinese to change and will stop jobs and wealth from flowing out of America as a result of unfair trade policies.”
(Reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Thomas Ferraro, Editing by Sandra Maler)