Doremus & Company
120 Broadway
New York
World Bank Issue Of $50,000,000 3 3/8 Per Cent Bonds Offered by Nationwide Group Headed by Morgan Stanley & Co. and the First Boston Corporation, Priced at 98 1/2 Per Cent Plus Accrued Interest
Public offering to investors of $50,000,000 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 3 3/8 per cent bonds due 1975 is being made today (May 14) by a nationwide group of 119 banks and investment firms headed by Morgan Stanley & Co. and The First Boston Corporation. The bonds are priced at 98 1/2 per cent plus accrued interest to yield 3.47 per cent to maturity.
This is the first issue of World Bank bonds to be marketed in the United States on a negotiated underwriting basis. The Bank’s initial issue of $250,000,000 3s and 2 l/4s in 1947 was sold in this country on a nationwide agency basis. The second American issue of $100,000,000 (a refunding operation) was sold by competitive bidding; the third and fourth issues, of $50,000,000 and $100,000,000 respectively were sold on a sponsorship basis. In addition the Bank has sold one issue each in England and Canada and three issues in Switzerland.
Under a sinking fund the Bank will retire $1,000,000 of the new bonds on or before May 15, 1958 and $1,500,000 on or before May 15 in each year thereafter to and including 1974. The sinking fund is calculated to retire 50 per cent of the issue prior to maturity. The bonds are redeemable for the sinking fund at the principal amount. Optional redemption prices range from 102 per cent if redeemed on or before May 15, 1957 to the principal amount if redeemed after May 15, 1972. Proceeds from the sale of the bonds will be used in the general operations of the Bank.
The Bank, which began operations on June 25, 1946, is an international institution whose members are governments. Its principal purposes are: (a) to assist in the reconstruction and development of its member countries by facilitating the investment of capital for productive purposes, thereby promoting the long-range growth of international trade and the improvement of standards of living; (b} to promote foreign investment by guarantees of and participations in loans and other investments made by private investors; and (c) when private capital is not available on reasonable terms, to make loans for productive purposes out of its own resources or funds borrowed by it.
As of March 31, 1952, the Bank had entered into loan commitments in an aggregate principal amount equivalent to $1,326,000,000 to finance programs or projects in 27 member countries which were for the following general purposes: electric power, $343,000,000 (U.S. dollar equivalent); communications and transportation, $307,000,000; agriculture and forestry $126,000,000; industry, $550,000,000. In addition to its financial operations the Bank has furnished to its member countries, both in connection with and independently of loan applications, technical assistance for surveys of development possibilities and assistance 1n analyzing their fiscal and economic problems.
Fifty-one governments are now members of the Bank. The United States has a total subscription to the Bank of $3,175,000,000 and no further Congressional action is necessary to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the $2,540,000,000 unpaid portion of the U.S. subscr1ption. The United States is entitled to cast approximately 33 per cent of the total votes of all present members.
The underwriting group includes among others:
Bankers Trust Company
The National City Bank of New York
J.P. Morgan & Co., Incorporated
The First National Bank of Chicago
Chemical Bank & Trust Company
Guaranty Trust company of New York
The First National Bank of the City of New York
Manufacturers Trust Company
Bank of America, N. T. & S. A.
Blyth & Co., Inc.
Drexel & Co.
Glore, Forgan & Co.
Goldman, Sacha & Co.
Harriman Ripley & Co. Incorporated
Kidder, Peabody & Co.
Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co.
Lazard Freres & Co.
Lehman Brothers
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane
Salomon Bros. & Hutzler
Shields & Company
Smith, Barney & Co.
Stone & Webster Securities Corporation
Union Securities Corporation
White, Weld & co.
American Trust Company
Bear, Stearns & Co.
A.G. Becker & Co. Incorporated
Alex. Brown & Sons
Central Republic Company (Incorporated)
C. F. Childs and Company
Clark, Dodge & Co.
Dick & Merle-Smith
Dominick & Dominick
Equitable Securities Corporation
Estabrook & Co.
Hallgarten & Co.
Harris Trust and Savings Bank
Hemphill, Noyes, Graham, Parsons & Co.
Hornblower & Weeks
W. E. Hutton & Co.
Aubrey G. Lanston & Co., Inc.
Lee Higginson Corporation
Mercantile Trust Company
F. S. Moseley & Co.
R.H. Moulton & Company
The Northern Trust Company
Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis
Phelps, Fenn & Co.
The Philadelphia the National Bank
Wm. E. Pollack & Co., Inc.
R. W. Pressprich & Co.
L. F. Rothschild & Co.
Dean Witter & Co.
Wood, Struthers & Co.
In acting for our clients we receive compensation for our services either directly, or indirectly through the placing of advertising, and are ready to disclose this information on request.
DOREMUS & COMPANY
