The Colombian treasury Wednesday offered to swap as much as 46 trillion Colombian pesos (US$23.35 billion) worth of existing bonds maturing between 2010 and 2018 with new bonds maturing in 2013, 2016 and 2024 in a bid to anticipate the maturing of debt in 2010.
The government also wants to keep an amount of outstanding bonds with different maturities so they all have enough liquidity to be attractive to investors, the ministry said in a statement.
The government will receive mainly fixed-rate bonds but will also take some inflation-linked ones.
Francisco Chaves, a debt strategist with local brokerage Corredores Asociados, expects investors to hand bonds for between COP2 trillion and COP3 trillion worth of bonds.
The government will open two new series of bonds maturing in 2013 and 2016. The coupon of those bonds will be set in the auction to be held Friday.
The government will reopen the 2024 bond that carries a 10% coupon. (Dow Jones)