The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) has sold USD$500 million in bonds in the US capital market.

The issuance was increased to $500 million from the $300 million first announced due to the size of the book that reached approximately USD 1.6 billion or 5x oversubscribed. The transaction was open to institutional bond investors and took place in the US within the framework of rule 144A, and under Regulation S of the Securities Act of 1933 -for trades made outside the US-.

The transaction closed on September 24, 2009. CABEI will pay semi-annual coupons every March 24 and September 24, starting on March 24, 2010. The issuance has a 5.375% coupon, at a price of 100%, with maturity date in September 24, 2014. The joint lead managers of the transaction were Barclays and Citi.

The bonds are considered senior and unsubordinated debt and rank pari passu in right of payment with current and future obligations of the issuer. The proceeds from the issuance of these bonds will be used by the Bank to make credit operations according to its mandate.

CABEI has four international credit ratings from prestigious agencies within the “A” scale: Standard& Poor’s A-, Moody’s A2, Fitch Ratings A-, Japan Credit Rating (JRC) A+.


About the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI)

CABEI is Central America’s main multilateral bank and financial arm. CABEI was founded on 13 December 1960 by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Its non-regional members include Mexico, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Argentina, Colombia and Spain. Subsequently, Panama and the Dominican Republic joined as non-founding regional members, and Belize also joined as a non-founding beneficiary country.