“JBIC guarantees 95% [of
the trade], but still there were
many investors who refrained
from buying the Russian
credit,” said another banker on
the deal.
Still, more than 20 accounts
participated, including city
banks, specialised banks, asset
managers, regional investors
and lifers. Relatively large
orders came in from city
banks.
“With the support from JBIC,
Japanese investors appreciated
this, and this was probably a
unique opportunity for them to
invest in this credit,” said the
first banker.
JBIC declined to comment on
the deal.
GPB Financial Services Hong
Kong, JP Morgan, Mizuho and
SMBC Nikko are the leads.
ING adds to Pro-bond credentials
Bonds Dutch bank gets warm response despite cool market conditionsBY TAKAHIRO OKAMOTOING raised an impressive
¥135.4bn (US$1.2bn) from a
three-tranche senior bond
offering despite difficult market
conditions, boosted by its name
recognition in Japan and decent
participation from regional
investors.
The deal consisted of ¥8.7bn
of 0.264% three-year notes, a
¥107.5bn 0.848% five year, anda ¥19.2bn 1.169% 10 year.
The three-year tranche was
issued by operating company
ING Bank, while the five and
10-year tranches were issued by
holding company ING Groep.
The latter two tranches count
towards total loss-absorbing
capacity requirements.
The Dutch bank pulled off
the sizable fundraising despite
the worsening sentiment in
credit markets, which forced it
to pull a US dollar Tier 2 bond
earlier this week. The recent
widening of spreads in overseas
markets has hit the yen
market, with Commerzbank
only able to raise ¥2.4bn fromits five-year Pro-bond trade last
month.
But the latest deal drew a
positive reaction from Japanese
investors, with more than 130
tickets coming in from over 110
accounts.
“[Japanese investors’]
investment decisions are based
on a long-term view, and are
not affected by the short-term
volatility that we experienced
in the last one to two weeks,” abanker on the deal said. “They
are comfortable with the credit
profile of ING.”
The Dutch bank is well
known in Japan not only for
its good credit reputation but
also for being the very first
issuer in the Tokyo Pro-bond
market. Although Tokyo Pro-
bond issuers can issue off of
their EMTN programmes, ING
still issues yen bonds under
Japanese law.
When marketing started
on Tuesday, the guidance
ranges were 15bp–20bp for
the three-year, 65bp–75bp for
the five-year, and 85bp–90bp
for the 10-year. Ultimately, allthree tranches priced at the
wider ends of the ranges.
“As the issuer wanted to do a
decent sized deal, they weren’t
necessarily pushing [the
guidance ranges towards the
tighter ends] too much,” said a
second banker on the deal.
The five and 10-year holdco
tranches priced about 10bp
over the issuer’s secondary
curve in euros, according
to two market sources.
Meanwhile, the 20bp spread
on the three-year opco tranche
referred to the recent five-year
senior preferred note from
BFCM, which priced over 24bp
over swaps.
The deal drew a wide variety
of investors.
“Regional investors took
more than ¥40bn, so the
investor participation is quite
well balanced,” said a third
banker on the deal. He also
said ING’s scarcity value drew a
large order from one investor.
The three-year tranche
attracted specialised banks,
asset managers, and regional
investors; the five-year drew
specialised banks, city banks,
insurers, asset managers and
regional investors; and the 10-
year tranche was bought by
lifers and regionals.
JP Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ
Morgan Stanley, Mizuho, Nomura
and SMBC Nikko are the leads on
the deal. The opco tranche has
expected ratings of Aa3/A+/A+
and the holdco tranches have
expected ratings of Baa1/A–/
A+. For daily news stories
visit http://www.ifrasia.comtypically holders of shares and
perpetual securities are wiped
out when a company goes into
administration.
Filing for administration
could also cause some
counterparties to end their
contracts with Noble, making
it harder to conduct business in
future.
Noble said it disagreed with
the positions taken by ACRA
and intended to submit a
comprehensive response to
the authority’s letter. It said
that the simulated financial
statements to which ACRA
referred had been submitted
confidentially and did not
represent the views of the
company, but were intended
to show the effects of applying
APRA’s accounting positions.
The latest developments will
serve as validation for Arnaud
Vagner, a former employee
of Noble, who has been
questioning the company’s
accounting practices in reports
published by Iceberg Research
from 2015 onwards.
“Unclear if Noble will still
be around for the next hearing
in our lawsuit (March 20),”
Iceberg wrote on Twitter on
Thursday. “We looked forward
to it as it was the discovery
hearing.”
“[Japanese investors’] investment decisions are
based on a long-term view, and are not affected
by the short-term volatility that we experienced in
the last one to two weeks,” a banker on the deal
said. “They are comfortable with the credit profile
of ING.”If you or your colleagues are photocopying articles from IFR Asia, then your company
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