Aruba Preps Fixed-Income Meetings

The government of Aruba will meet fixed-income investors next week in Europe and the US, in a possibly prelude to a $253m, 11-year senior unsecured bond issue. Meetings will begin in London on September 3, followed by New York on September 4, Boston on September 5 and possibly Los Angeles on September 6. Fitch assigns the bonds a BBB rating with stable outlook. Proceeds will be used to address $88m in external maturities and to cover budgetary requirements, Fitch says. Credit Suisse and UBS are managing. Aruba last visited the bond market in February 2008, pricing a $57.3m 5-year issue.