The World Bank signed today an agreement for public offering of £. 300 million in Dutch guilder bonds (about US$123 million equivalent). The bonds have a straight 10-year maturity. This is the Bank’s first Dutch guilder issue offered in the fiscal year that began on July 1. The issue has a coupon of 6.25 percent payable annually and an issue price of 99.25 percent, for a yield of 6.26 percent on a semi-annual equivalent basis.
The bonds are underwritten by a syndicate of Dutch banks and foreign institutions, headed by Algemene Bank Nederland, N.V. with Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank, N.V. as co-lead manager. In addition to the traditional syndicate members, there are ten non-Dutch members that account for 13 percent of the underwritten issue.
This is the 19th public offering of World Bank Dutch guilder bonds in the Netherlands. Fifteen of these, including the current issue, remain outstanding with a total face amount of about £. 3.6 billion (US$1.5 equivalent).
