Pak re-enters global bond market, raises largest-ever offering

Pakistan has re-entered the global bond market after a gap of seven years and raised USD 2 billion - its largest-ever international bond offering - the Finance Ministry here said today.
Pakistan made a historic return to the international bond market with a US dollar-denominated dual tranche offering aggregating USD 2 billlion, raising USD 1 billion each in 5 and 10 years tenors respectively, the Ministry said in a statement.
The transaction represents the largest-ever international bond offering by Pakistan, the spokesman of Pakistan's Ministry of Finance said.
He said that against the initial expectations of raising USD 500 million, the investor response was overwhelmingly strong and the order-books were oversubscribed across the two tranches, consisting of over 400 orders from high quality investors.

The five-year bonds were distributed across all major geographic regions: 59 per cent in the US, 19 per cent in UK, 10 per cent Europe, 10 per cent in Asia and 2 per cent others.
Fund managers took 84 per cent of the five year issue, banks 8 per cent, hedge funds 7 per cent, insurance company/ pension funds 1 per cent.

The 10-year bonds were distributed 61 per cent in the US, 21 per cent in UK, 12 per cent in Europe, 5 per cent in Asia and Middle East and 1 per cent others.
Fund managers took 86 per cent of the 10-year issue, hedge funds 9 per cent, banks 4 per cent, insurance company/ pension funds 1 per cent.

The cash-strapped South Asian nation, plagued by a homegrown Taliban insurgency, is struggling to get its economy back on track.