Endesa's Colombian Unit Emgesa Sells Up To COP265 Billion In Bonds

Emgesa SA, the Colombian power generation company controlled by Spanish energy giant Endesa SA (ELE.MC), will sell as much as 265 billion Colombian pesos ($106 million) worth of bonds in the local market on Wednesday and Thursday, the company said in an ad published in La Republica newspaper.

Emgesa originally plans to sell COP180 billion worth of bonds and will raise the amount if demand is high enough, the company said.

The new bonds will mature in five, 10 and 15 years.

Emgesa is ready to pay the country's benchmark interest rate, known as DTF, plus a spread of 1.80 percentage points on the five-year bonds.

The DTF is a weighted average of the rates paid by Colombian financial institutions on 90-day certificates of deposit.

The company plans to pay a maximum yield of consumer price index plus 6 percentage points on the 10-year bonds and consumer price index plus 6.20 percentage points.

Citivalores, the local brokerage of Citigroup (C), will handle the bond sale.

Several Colombian companies have tapped the local capital market with bond sales since late November 2008, taking advantage of high liquidity.

-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 571-6107044 Ext 1131; [e-mail]