SANTO DOMINGO.- The Banco Popular, Dominican Republic’s largest bank, said today it will issue US$124.4 million in bonds, after the country’s securities and banking agencies authorized the offer.

The Popular’s bonds will have a 10-year maturity and are issued to “widen its asset base,” it said in an emailed statement. It said the bonds, offered to qualified local and international institutional investors, would give the Popular a solvency index of 15 percent, exceeding the country’s regulatory requirements by 50 percent.

Fitch Ratings gave the operation an A (dom), and would allow the Popular to raise its assets by US$121 million, it said.

In March the Popular bank said its assets rose US$43.5 million in 2006, or 15.4 percent, to USRD$ 326.4 million, and posted 14.6 percent more deposits than the previous year.