Singapore’s Land Transit Authority (LTA) has launched its first bond issue, seeking to raise US$300m to part finance public works. In a press statement, the LTA said the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter have been appointed lead managers and arrangers for the ten year bond issue. "In order for us to realise our long-term rail transit development plan, we estimate that in the next ten years, an average of about US$1.2bn would be needed," says Han Eng Juan, chief executive of the LTA. "To fund this plan, we have decided to diversify our sources by tapping the capital markets," he says. Singapore has said that it wants further to expand its modern rail transit system, being already committed to spending US$5.6bn over the next five to six years.
