Asian infrastructure bank raises US$549 million in Hong Kong dollar bond sale
AIIB issuance attracts investors domestically and across Asia-Pacific, with final order book reaching HK$9 billion and more than 25 orders
The three-year senior unsecured fixed-rate sustainable-development bonds pay an annual coupon of 3.847 per cent, and will settle locally in Hong Kong’s Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU), which tracks and manages Hong Kong-dollar debt securities and other financial products.
The bonds are the first Hong Kong dollar public bonds priced at a spread to the Hong Kong interbank offered rate – the interest rate at which banks in the city lend to one another – mid swap. This type of large, liquid benchmark bond provided pricing transparency and interest-rate risk hedging, and also adhered to international norms, said Domenico Nardelli, AIIB treasurer.
“The Hong Kong market is a stable market,” Nardelli said. “We have proven now it also [has] a deep pool of financial liquidity. It’s definitely something interesting for us and our class of issuers to explore further.”
The offering from AIIB, which has a top rating from all three major credit rating agencies, received orders of more than HK$10 billion at the peak, drawing diverse investors including central banks, bank treasuries, asset managers and local companies, according to Standard Chartered, joint lead manager on the deal.