TDB SOLD USD 500 MILLION OF BONDS

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia LLC, the nation’s largest lender by assets, has sold USD 500 million of five-year dollar bonds after postponing the offering in July due to adverse market conditions. The Ulaanbaatar-based bank issued the notes to yield 9.375 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The government’s U.S. currency notes due in 2018 yield 6.23 percent and those maturing in December 2022 pay 7.06 percent, the data show. “We thought that from a relative value standpoint we were paid well and this was attractively priced,” Stephen Hooker, managing director of foreign research and portfolio manager at Newfleet Asset Management, which was involved in the bond purchase, said by phone Tuesday. “From a risk-reward standpoint, this seems like a good opportunity.” The nation is tapping the debt market before the U.S. raises interest rates and as foreign-exchange reserves dropped 32 percent to USD 1.32 billion in the 12 months through March. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the outlook on Mongolia’s B+ rating, which is four levels below investment grade and on a par with Cyprus and Sri Lanka, to negative from stable on April 30, citing pressure from the growing fiscal and current-account deficits. Sri Lanka’s U.S. currency securities due in 2020 yielded 5.61 percent Tuesday, reports Bloomberg.