Philippines Yankee: Drama until the end

The postponed Philippines’ yankee was finally launched last month in a way that appeared to save face for both the country and lead-manager Salomon Brothers but which, in reality, retained the quirkiness of the entire saga.

Although the deal was cut down from a jumbo $1.25 billion to a more modest $500 million, the Philippines central bank, Bangko Sentral, got the maturities it wanted – 30-year and 100-year – at tighter pricing than it could have achieved in April when the original deal was pulled.