Washington DC, January 2003. EuroWeek summarized with: "The IFC launched a $1bn five year Global bond in April 2002 via Citigroup/SSB and UBS Warburg, achieving a spread of 1bp through the Fannie Mae April 2007 benchmark - the first time a supranational other than the World Bank had been able to price through US agencies, signaling a shift in investors' priorities, from liquidity to credit quality and rarity value. In the past the IFC had paid a premium to agencies, in 2001 launching a global bond at 4bp over and in 2000 at plus 6bp."
The bond was well received by the market, quickly becoming almost twice subscribed with more than 80 investors in the book, of which 40 were from the US. In the secondary market, the bond showed good price performance versus US Treasuries and Agencies, as well as versus swaps.
IFC uses the annual benchmark transaction to place the corporation among the leading supranationals in regards to price, distribution and the quality of the book, goals which were successfully reached through this issue. To achieve these objectives, the funding team put in great efforts to market this global issue. Nina Shapiro, Treasurer at the IFC, recognized that investors "appreciated the fact that we were responsive to the market."
The IFC has issued two similar Global bonds in the past, the first in the spring of 2000 and the second in the spring of 2001. The IFC plans to continue an identical funding strategy in the future.
The EuroWeek Supranational Deals of the Year:
- 1st Place :International Finance Corporation $1billion 4.75% 2007, CitigroupSSB/UBSW
- 2nd Place: Inter-American Development Bank $2billion 4.375% 2012, Goldman Sachs/HSBC
- 3rd Place: European Investment Bank $Eu5billion 5.375% 2012, Merrill Lynch/CSFB/UBSW
