WASHINGTON, D.C., April 14, 2009
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced the launch and pricing of a five-year $3 billion benchmark issue, part of its regular program of raising funds for development lending. IFC’s tenth annual global bond issue was heavily oversubscribed by top-quality global investors, generating an order book in excess of $4 billion.
“This successful bond issue will further strengthen IFC’s financial position and its ability to respond to the global economic crisis,” said IFC Executive Vice President and CEO Lars Thunell.
The bonds, which mature April 22, 2014 and carry a coupon of 3 percent, were priced to yield 137.75 basis points over the benchmark U.S. Treasury bond.
“This is IFC’s largest bond issue ever, which is remarkable at a time when financial markets remain uncertain,” said IFC Vice President, Finance and Treasurer Nina Shapiro. “The overwhelming demand was an affirmation of IFC’s premier standing in credit markets, and the strong record IFC has established for its global bond issuance.”
The issue attracted orders from 88 leading financial institutions. Investors from Asia bought 36 percent of the bonds, while investors in the Americas took 40 percent and those in Europe and the Middle East took 24 percent.
BNP Paribas, HSBC, and JP Morgan were joint lead managers for the issue, while the co-lead managers were Barclays, Daiwa Securities, Nomura, RBC Capital Markets, and UBS Investment Bank.
IFC leverages its triple-A credit rating to raise funds for investment and lending to promote the private sector in developing countries. IFC’s funding program for fiscal year 2009 is $8.0 billion. IFC’s annual U.S. dollar global bond offering is a key element of this funding strategy. The annual global issue provides a market benchmark, both for IFC’s other borrowing and the structured products it arranges for its clients. The proceeds of this issue will be swapped into floating-rate U.S. dollar funds that will be available for IFC’s general operations.
IFC also borrows in emerging market currencies to promote development of local capital markets.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
