Category: Bills & Bonds

Nov 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s benchmark 3-month Treasury yields shot up 33 basis points to 16.07 percent Wednesday, ending a near month long honeymoon from a sovereign bond that made markets liquid and sent rates plummeting. Due a flaw in Sri Lanka’s monetary law the Central Bank could be used by the government […]

Nov 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry confirmed Wednesday that the proceeds of its biggest ever foreign bond issue had already been spent to repay short term debt.The government originally said a 500 million dollar sovereign bond issue raised in October would be used for infrastructure development projects. A Sri Lanka finance ministry […]

Oct 31, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka treasury yields plummeted at Wednesday’s auction with the benchmark 3-month bill falling 143 basis points to 15.80 percent as domestic borrowings reduced in the wake of a foreign bond issue.The government’s debt office said it retired 3.1 billion worth maturing debt and accepted 8.5 billion worth of bids. […]

Oct 24, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan government Treasury bill yields have fallen sharply after the government’s 500 million US dollar bond sale, dealers said. The bond issue was arranged by HSBC, Barclays, and JPMorgan and co-managed by the Bank of Ceylon. In the equity markets, the All Share index closed one point lower at […]

Oct 18, 2007 (LBO) –Credit-default swaps tied to Sri Lanka’s debt started trading Thursday after the government sold 500 million dollars in bonds to foreign investors for the first time, Bloomberg newswire reported. Five-year contracts used to speculate on the South Asian nation’s ability to repay debt were quoted at 375 basis points as of […]

Oct 18, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Thursday said the government’s first international sovereign bond issue of 500 million dollars was more than three times oversubscribed.The bonds have a five-year maturity and a coupon of 8.25 percent per annum, the bank statement said. The issue carries a “junk bond” or below investment grade […]

Oct 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) said an assessment by a rating agency that a future administration run by the party would repay a sovereign bond that is now being marketed is wrong and insisted that it would default. The UNP has said the attempt to raise around […]

Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s opposition United National Party is not expected to “willfully default” a proposed 500 million dollar sovereign bond if the party comes power in the future, Fitch Ratings has said. The 500 million dollar proposed bond ran into controversy after UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said […]

Oct 08, 2007, (LBO) – Sri Lanka is starting road shows in a number of financial centres to sell its maiden sovereign bond with teams from the finance ministry and central bank already having left the island, officials said. The government said in July that the it was hoping to raise 500 million dollars through […]

Oct 04, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka treasuries edged up again this week as a high budget deficit drained funds from the domestic markets and the central bank fought to limit money printing in a bid to avoid further inflation. . The average yield of the benchmark 3-month treasuries went up 20 basis points to […]

Sept 29, 2007 (LBO) – The controversy over a sovereign bond took a new turn with Sri Lanka’s finance ministry saying the country’s president could approve any foreign borrowing, in a statement sent to selected local media. Questions had also been raised about the timing of the issue, in the light of turmoil in global […]

Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka rejected all bids for an auction of 2, 3 and 5 year Treasury bonds Thursday following a pattern established in recent months while stocks closed weaker and the rupee held firm against the greenback. Touchwood ended up one rupee at 83 with almost 100,000 shares being traded. In […]