Regional chief executive Paul Favila and his Manila-based team at Citi are connecting one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies to global hubs and local markets in more than 70 countries. Citi’s sprawling international network and the vast liquidity pools at its disposal are an important differentiator in this regard.
In 2022, the Philippine economy grew a China-beating 7%-plus. Moreover, Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s first year in the presidential palace is confounding the naysayers who were worried about backsliding on economic reforms.
As investors are encouraged by the country’s prospects, Citi is well positioned to benefit. Indeed, it is the only foreign firm on the government’s primary dealer list and acted as a joint lead manager and joint bookrunner for the Philippine government’s sale of $2.25 billion of sustainable global bonds in March 2022. Manila’s debut environmental, social and governance financing transaction was the first such sizable offering in Asia in the post-pandemic era.
Once again, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank also turned to Citi to bring bond issuance to market last year – and on numerous occasions. Citi was joint lead manager for the issuance of $3.5 billion of global benchmark bonds – Citi’s fifth consecutive five-year US dollar global mandate from the ADB since October 2019.
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