State-owned Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) prefers to privately place around P12 billion in bonds currently instead of undertaking a public offering of the debt paper, National Treasurer Robert Tan said.

HDMF, popularly known as the Pag-IBIG Fund, may forego a public sale of the bond “to simplify the process”, said Tan. A private placement usually involves no more than 20 financial institutions.

Pag-IBIG will use part of the proceeds to settle some of the state’s home mortgage financing agency debts. Tan said if Pag-IBIG decides later to use the facilities of the National Treasury to auction the bond, the authorities will help facilitate the process, he added.