LTA sells S$1.2b worth of bonds in half a day

THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore has sold a massive S$1.2 billion worth of bonds amid a lacklustre market.

DBS Bank said Monday it has issued a 10-year S$300 million and 30-year S$900 million bond for LTA at 2.75 per cent and 3.35 per cent respectively. DBS is the joint lead manager and bookrunner for this deal.

"It's the first LTA bond for a long time," said Clifford Lee, DBS head of fixed income.

LTA's last appearance on the local bond market was in 2015.

Monday's bumper issue was well received, said Mr Lee.

"We were quite certain that there would be good interest in the SGD bond market for such a strong issuer offering rare long-tenor bonds," he said.

"The fact that we were able to place out all the bonds in half a day of bookbuilding - the deal was only announced after lunch and priced this evening - speaks to the fact that the LTA bond issue today was indeed well received."

"The market continues to be choppy and it's difficult generally to price deals amid the volatility but the LTA hit the sweet spot because of its strong credit and long tenors it offers," Mr Lee added.

Insurers would be one of the main buyers for such papers.

SGD bonds issuance in 2018 has been lacklustre, excluding today's LTA sale.

From Jan 1 to March 9, SGD issuance was S$4 billion, down 16 per cent from the same period a year ago.