ADB launches $500-M bond issue

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched a $500 million bond issue last October 23.

The proceeds of the issue will be included in ADB’s ordinary capital resources and used in its non-concessional lending operations. "The distribution of the bonds is anchored in Asia and supported by European demand," it said in a statement.

The joint lead managers are Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and UBS Warburg.

The bonds, with a coupon rate of 4.25 percent per annum are under annual payment terms with a seven-year straight maturity. It is priced at 99.948 percent.

"With this issue, ADB has raised so far this year $5.4-billion of long-term funds through 64 transactions, including a five-year $2-billion global bond issue in January and another 10-year $500-million global bond issue in August," it explained.

The "fund-raising" activities is designed to support ADB’s 15-year strategy worth billions of US dollars "to eradicate poverty in the region with emphasis on selective investments, environmentally-friendly programs, and greater private sector participation."

The program is outlined in its long-term strategic framework (LTSF), a major reassessment of ADB’s goals and policies that two years ago resulted in the realization that extreme poverty for one in four Asians was "an unacceptable human condition."

ADB has chosen a 15-year timeframe, because it correlates with the framework integrated its new strategy with the International Development Goals (IDGs), seven broad benchmarks for reducing poverty worldwide by 2015 resulting from a series of United Nations-sponsored world conferences during the past decade.

"The Bank has been playing, and will continue to play, a large role in helping its developing member countries to reach these goals," Shoji Nishimoto, director of the bank’s Strategy and Policy Department said in an earlier statement.

However, the ADB director admitted that they would need the cooperation of other international institutions, governments of client states and their respective private sectors.

"The development challenges of the region are far beyond the capacities of any one institution," Nishimoto added. "The LTSF will enable us to be selective in our investments and to take a long-term approach to focus our resources on the things we do best, and to be more efficient in our operations."

Greater selectivity in operations will be accompanied by a much stronger country and client focus, and this will be achieved through stronger country leadership and ownership of the development agenda.

The IDGs are: (a) to reduce the incidence of extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015; (b) achieve 100 percent primary school enrolment by 2015; (c) eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005; (d) reduce infant and child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015; (e) reduce maternal mortality ratios by three quarters between 1990 and 2015; (f) expand access toreproductive health services to all women by 2015; and (g) implement in all countries a national sustainable the challenges of development.

The other theme is supporting regional cooperation and integration for development while providing wider development options, address-shared problems, and pool information.