Philippines to sell 25-yr sovereign dlr bonds

Published: 15 Oct 2009 17:26:57 PST

MANILA, Oct 16 - The Philippines, one of Asia's largest sovereign debt issuers, will sell 25-year dollar bonds, a senior government official said, but did not indicate how soon it would launch the deal.

Rosalia de Leon, head of the Department of Finance's International Finance Group, told Reuters the issue would be handled by UBS, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

On Thursday, the Philippine central bank approved a government plan to issue up to $1 billion in global bonds. A central bank nod is required for any government debt issue.

Finance officials earlier said the government would like to pre-fund some of its 2010 foreign debt needs of around $2 billion ahead of presidential polls set in May.