The Bermuda Government yesterday raised $500 million in its debut US dollar public bond offering that was six times oversubscribed.

The 5.6 percent coupon on the bonds means Government must make interest payments totalling $28 million per year to the 146 investors who participated.

Government decided to expand the offering to $500 million from $400 million after the bonds attracted an order book of $2.4 billion, Financial Secretary Donald Scott revealed last night.

He added that the deal had locked in historically low interest rates for the bonds' ten-year duration.

However the pricing attracted criticism from Acting Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons, who said the deal was "certainly no bargain to the long suffering Bermudian taxpayer".

Government's total debt outstanding has skyrocketed to $826 million and the proceeds of the bond sale will be used to pay off short-term debt and ongoing capital expenditure.

The Finance Ministry said ten percent of the participating investors came from Bermuda and 60 percent from the US.

lRead the full story in Business, Page 26