The World Bank signed today an agreement for a public offering of £. 250 million in Dutch guilder bonds (about $108 million). The bonds have a straight 20-year maturity and are repayable on October 15, 2006. The issue has a coupon of 6.25 percent and an issue price of 99.50, for a yield of 6.20 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 15 percent of the underwritten issue.
This is the 20th public offering of World Bank Dutch guilder bonds in the Netherlands. Fourteen of these, including the current issue, remain outstanding with a total face amount of about £. 3.9 billion ($1.7 billion).
