Washington, DC, February 2, 2005 - The World Bank issued a USD 750 million 30-year global bond today. The bond was the first 30-year global bond issued by the World Bank since 1993.
"This is a special deal for us. It took more than a decade to again see a confluence of factors making a long global bond proposal one that we were able to entertain. A large number of investors were very eager for long-dated paper that would allow them to implement their credit and interest rate view strategies with the safest credit; and the expressions of interest coming in were geographically dispersed, not concentrated in one region." said Doris Herrera-Pol, Manager, Capital Markets Operations, World Bank Treasury.
This transaction was joint lead-managed by JP Morgan & Morgan Stanley. Co-Lead Managers were: Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Nomura, and UBS.
The bonds were placed 50% with North American investors, 35% with European investors, and 15% with Asian investors. The distribution by investor type was: 40% Fund Managers, 25% Life Insurance Companies and Pension Funds, 20% Banks and Retail Intermediaries, and 15% Central Banks and Official Institutions. The bonds were sold to over 50 investors.
The 30-year World Bank bonds were issued at a price of 98.957% and pay a coupon of 4.75% per annum, through semi-annual payments. This gives investors a yield of 4.816% (s.a.), equivalent to a spread of 22 basis points above the underlying US Treasury bond. As registered Fed Bookentry notes, the securities will be eligible for clearing through the major clearing systems - Fedwire in the US, and Euroclear and Clearstream in Europe.
Amount: USD 750 million
Settlement date: February 9, 2005
Coupon: 4.75% per annum (long first coupon), payable semi-annually
Maturity Date: February 15, 2035
Issue price: 98.957%
Spread: 22 basis points over the underlying US Treasury (UST 5.375% Feb 2031)
Interest payment dates: February 15, August 15
Listing: Luxembourg
Form of notes: Registered, Fed Bookentry notes
Clearing systems: Fedwire, Euroclear or Clearstream
The World Bank's bond products and investor presentation can be accessed through the website of the World Bank for bond investors (www.worldbank.org/debtsecurities). For a list of selected bonds issued recently by the World Bank, see: https://treasury.worldbank.org/recentissues.
