KARACHI: Pakistan executed its largest single international capital market transaction on Thursday, raising $3 billion through a dual-tranche Eurobond sale that drew nearly $6 billion in orders from institutional investors across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, according to the Ministry of Finance.
The offering, structured across two maturities, included a $1.75 billion 5.5-year tranche with a coupon rate of 7.50% and a $1.25 billion 10-year tranche carrying a 7.90% coupon. The order book was nearly two times oversubscribed, with substantial investor interest extending into the longer-dated instrument, signaling renewed international confidence in Pakistan's macroeconomic trajectory.
The transaction marks the first issuance under Pakistan's renewed Global Medium-Term Note Programme, following the country's inaugural Panda Bond and successive sovereign credit-rating upgrades over the past three years. Joint bookrunners for the offering included Citi, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD, MUFG, and Standard Chartered.
Strategic Debt Management
Finance Ministry officials described the issuance as a core component of active sovereign liability management rather than a simple addition to national debt. The government aims to utilize long-term, competitively priced global capital to replace shorter-term, higher-cost obligations, extend overall debt maturities, and minimize refinancing and rollover risks.
"We are pursuing a broader strategy of active sovereign liability management, diversifying financing sources, extending maturities, reducing refinancing and rollover risks, and creating opportunities to replace shorter-term and more expensive obligations with longer-duration, competitively priced financing," the ministry said in a statement.
The deal extends Pakistan's borrowing timeline beyond the $750 million three-year Eurobond raised in April 2026, providing a benchmark for longer-term international market access. Pakistan also repaid a $1.4 billion Eurobond in April, allowing the government to re-establish a pricing benchmark in international debt markets after several years of relying heavily on multilateral, bilateral, and commercial financing.
"The depth of the order book, its geographically diversified institutional investor base, and substantial demand for a 10-year Pakistan sovereign instrument together provide a powerful market-based signal of renewed confidence in Pakistan's medium- and long-term trajectory," the ministry said.
