UPDATE 2-Venezuela 2022 bond demand at triple offer amount

* Government says offers accepted for $3 bln

* Issue to supply dollar-hungry businesses

* $3 bln bond carries 12.75 percent coupon (Adds quotes, details, background)

By Daniel Wallis

CARACAS, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Venezuela's new dollar-denominated 2022 bond attracted offers totaling more than triple the $3 billion on offer, the Finance Ministry said on Monday, saying it had accepted bids for the full amount tendered.

Total offers of $9.2 billion were received for the bond, which was launched with an offer price at 100 percent of face value and a coupon of 12.75 percent, the ministry said in a statement.

The bond is the South American oil producer's first multibillion dollar issue for 10 months and is aimed at pumping greenbacks to dollar-hungry importers during a stubborn recession ahead of legislative elections on Sept. 26. [ID:nN10140306]

Analysts said the new bond is likely to be attractive to international investors amid growing appetite for risk, but will probably come under pressure in the first weeks of trading.

"Most local Venezuelan investors are likely to just turn around and sell it after the allocations, creating downside pressure on prices as the markets absorb the supply," said Russ Dallen, head trader at BBO Financial Services in Caracas.

"However, the attractiveness of the coupon will certainly promote switching from other Venezuelan instruments to the 2022, thus pushing the whole Venezuelan yield curve upward to higher yields."

The price of Venezuela's benchmark Global 2027 VENGLB27=RR bond was unchanged at 68.5 on Monday, giving a yield of 14.2 percent, up from 13.2 percent after the new issue was announced on Aug. 9.

The 2022 bond will be issued via the central bank's new foreign exchange system, Sitme, which began operating in June to replace an unregulated, "parallel" market.

Sitme has recently sold dollars at a rate of about 5.3 bolivars to a restricted group of buyers. Businesses are subject to a limit of $50,000 per day and $350,000 per month.

GOOD RATE FOR SELLERS

Venezuela operates a complex currency system with two fixed official rates that are also tightly restricted: 2.6 bolivars per dollar for essential goods like medicines, and 4.3 bolivars for other imports.

Local analysts say the new bond is trading at between 79 and 80 percent in advance of the allocation, giving it a yield of around 16.85 percent for buyers and an implied exchange rate for sellers of about 5.44 bolivars per dollar.

That is a much better rate than on the old "parallel" market, where the local currency had slumped to below 8 to the greenback before the authorities shut down the system in May.

Debt issued by Venezuela's government and its state oil company, PDVSA, offer high yields for investors willing to bear what some consider a significant chance of default.

PDVSA also sold $1.04 billion of dollar-denominated paper maturing in 2014, according to a report last week that cited data showing the 4.9 percent bonds were sold on Aug. 5 in a reopening of a $1.4 billion issue last year. [ID:nN11251477]

The 2022 bond comes ahead of a parliamentary election next month where Chavez's party is expected to retain a majority -- despite economic woes that threaten its popularity.

Experts say Venezuela could issue more debt this year, since $4 billion will probably not be enough to meet dollar demand that has built up since Sitme replaced the old market.

The 2022 paper is the government's first multibillion dollar bond since last October when it sold $4.992 billion in 2019 and 2024 dollar-denominated paper, up from an initial offer of $3 billion. (Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)