Dominican Republic to Sell First Bonds in Overseas Markets in Three Years
The Dominican Republic plans to sell dollar bonds in the country’s first international dollar offering in more than three years.
The country, which hired Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. to arrange the offering, will begin meeting with bond investors April 23, said the person, who declined to be identified because terms aren’t set. Benchmark typically means a sale of at least $500 million.
The Dominican Republic is tapping overseas debt markets to take advantage of its lowest borrowing costs since January 2008. The extra yield investors demand to own the country’s dollar bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries narrowed to 3.22 percentage points on April 15 from 4.05 points at the end of last year, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
“The issue will be well received by the market and provide positive momentum for Dominican Republic assets,” Alejandro Grisanti, an analyst at Barclays Plc in New York, wrote in a report today. Grisanti has an “overweight” rating on the country’s bonds as “reconstruction aid flows for Haiti are likely to be funneled via the Dominican Republic,” he wrote.
The Dominican Republic’s economy will grow 7.9 percent this year, after expanding 3.5 percent in 2009, according to Barclays.
To contact the reporter on this story: Veronica Navarro Espinosa in New York at vespinosa@bloomberg.net
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