Sri Lanka sells US$166mn floating rate bonds

Aug 11, 2011 (LBO) - Sri Lanka sold 166 million US dollars of bonds based on 6-month London Interbank Offered rate extending tenors up to 5-years mainly targeting resident investors, the government's debt office said.



Called 'development bonds' the floating rate debt is sold mostly to domestic banks and investors allowed to have foreign exchange deposits. The public debt office, which is a unit of the Central Bank said Sri Lanka had issued 55 million dollars of 5-year floating rate bond for the first time priced at 6-month Libor plus 390 basis points.

Libor was 0.44 percent today. The bonds have a settlement day of August 18.

The government also sold 30 million dollars of 4-year bonds at Libor plus 375 basis points and 81 million dollars of 3-year bonds at Libor plus 365 basis points.

On June 21, Sri Lanka sold 4-year bond at 6-month Libor plus 375 basis points and 3-year bonds at 6-month Libor plus 356 basis points.