Asia’s debt bankers were predicting as 2009 drew to a close that the start of this year would be busy and interesting. They were right. For years the Philippines has set the tone in Asian sovereign debt, issuing a benchmark note in January that tests investors’ appetite for ROPs – as the republic’s bonds are known – and for Asia sovereigns in general. Generally regarded among investors as Asia’s savviest frequent issuer, the Philippines enjoyed first-mover advantage on $1.5 billion of bonds sold in the first week of January, with both tranches of the deal heavily oversubscribed. Now comes the interesting part....
