Colombia Sells $1.5 Billion of Bonds in Foreign Markets to Fund Buyback

Colombia sold $1.5 billion bonds due 2.041, the Andean country’s first overseas offering since July, to help finance the budget and fund a debt buyback.

The government sold the bonds to yield 4.96 percent, or 1.95 percentage points above U.S. Treasuries. 

The sale is a re-opening of securities that Colombia first issued in October 2.009. 

Today’s sale brings the amount outstanding to $2.5 billion.

The sale will help finance the 2.012 budget, Maria Catalina Escobar, the deputy director of the Finance Ministry’s Public Credit department, said in a telephone interview. 

Colombia will also use part of the proceeds to buy back as much as $750 million of foreign bonds, according to an e-mailed statement from the Finance Ministry. 

The government will repurchase debt maturing between 2.013 and 2.027, according to the statement.

HSBC Holdings Plc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. managed the offering.