in aluminium production, electricity
generation and coal mining.
QPI issued debut three-year Reg S notes
of US$300m to yield 7.25% in February.
Then, in July, it sold US$300m of four-year
Reg S notes to yield 6.4%.
Offerings of short-term bonds took off
in May as these allow Chinese issuers to
avoid National Development and Reform
Commission restrictions on offshore prints,
since bonds with maturities of less than
one year do not need to be registered with
the country’s top economic planner.
› NAN HAI CANCELS DOLLAR TRADE
Chinese film distribution and property
development company NAN HAI CORP , rated B1
(Moody’s), has decided not to proceed with
its proposal to issue US dollar bonds.
“The company would like to thank
investors for their time during the
roadshow and interest in the transaction.
Despite good interest from the investor
base, the company has decided not to
proceed with the contemplated transaction
today and might reconsider it when
appropriate,” it said in an email update sent
to investors late on last Thursday.
The Hong Kong-listed company last
Thursday marketed 3.5-year US dollar
senior unsecured bonds at final price
guidance of 8.125%, in from the initial
8.250% area, after receiving orders of over
US$300m.
When it released the final guidance, it
also said the issue size of the Reg S notes
would be around US$200m.
Top Yield Ventures was to issue the
proposed notes, while parent Nan Hai and
certain non-PRC subsidiaries were to serve
as guarantors. The notes had an expected
B2 rating from Moody’s.
BNP Paribas was sole global coordinator
on the issue, and joint bookrunner with
AMTD.
This was Nan Hai’s first attempt to issue
US dollar bonds, based on its own credit.
The company issued US$500m 3.00% US
dollar three-year non-call 1.5 notes in May
and US$400m 3.15% three-year non-call two
in July. However, these two issues had the
backing of standby letters of credit from
China Citic Bank, Shenzhen branch.› 21VIANET REOPENS BONDS21VIANET GROUP on Friday announced a
US$100m tap of its US$200m 7% three-year
non-put two bonds at par.
The reopening stemmed from reverse
anchor interest and had not yet closed at
time of going to press.
The original senior unsecured, fixed-rate
bonds priced last month. The Reg S notes
are unrated and have a letter of supportfrom Tus-Holdings.
China Industrial Securities International and
Orient Securities (Hong Kong) were joint global
coordinators for the tap. The JGCs were also
bookrunners with Barclays.› HAIER READIES DOLLAR PERPSHAIER GROUP aims to sell US dollar perpetual
non-call five securities via an offshore
unit after China’s week-long National Day
holiday in October, a market source has
said.
The Chinese appliance maker has a
US$1bn offshore bond quota from the
country’s top economic planner, the
National Development and Reform
Commission, according to the source.
Proceeds will be mainly used to refinance
the debt related to last year’s US$5.6bn
acquisition of General Electric’s appliance
business.
BNP Paribas , DBS Bank and Zhongtai
International are among the leads on the
issue, the source says.› MAOYE MEETS FOR POTENTIAL SALEChinese department store operator MAOYE
INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS conducted non-deal
roadshows via Deutsche Bank and Guotai
Junan International last week, according to
market sources.Canada duo serve Dim Sum to end dry run
Bonds Favourable cross-currency swap rate seen encouraging a few more issuers this yearTwo Canadian banks ended a long drought
in the Dim Sum market in the past two weeks
with back-to-back prints that took advantage
of a favourable cross-currency swap rate.
NATIONAL BANK OF CANADA , rated A1/A
(Moody’s/S&P), priced CNH600m (US$90m)
three-year Dim Sum notes last Thursday at
par to yield 4.30%.
The deal came a week after ROYAL BANK OF
CANADA , rated A1/AA– (Moody’s/S&P), raised
CNH900m on September 22 from three-year
notes priced at par to yield 4.25%.
The two deals are only the second and
third non-sovereign Dim Sum offerings this
year after Bank of China’s CNH1.5bn sale in
April.
CCS rates have started to benefit CNH
issuers that intend to swap proceeds into
US dollars, according to market sources.
In RBC’s case, the deal saved it about 10bp
compared to raising funds via US dollar
bonds. NBC saved around 5bp.
Statistics were not disclosed for eitheroffering, but global fund managers and
Taiwanese banks were the main buyers in
both cases.
Bankers said that appetite for Dim
Sum bonds had been growing after the
stabilisation of the renminbi and that the
favourable CCS rate was likely to encourage
more issuers.
On August 8, China’s onshore renminbi
strengthened to a 10-month high against
the US dollar, after data showed a larger-
than-expected increase in the country’s
foreign-exchange reserves.
The Chinese currency’s spot strengthened
to 6.590 against the US dollar at the end of
August from 6.727 at end-July.
Dim Sum supply has been scarce this
year, with only two offerings in addition
to the Canadian double. In June, China
sold CNH7bn of dual-tranche Dim Sum in
Hong Kong. In April, Bank of China issued
CNH1.5bn three-year Dim Sum bonds.
“We have seen some reverse enquiriesfor high-quality names as the renminbi
stabilised and they were not in small sizes,
but we are still working very hard to find
multinational corporates to reopen the
market,” said a banker with a foreign bank
away from the RBC deal. “It is still too
early to say the Dim Sum bond market is
reviving.”
Another banker said they were pitching
more financial and corporate issuers to tap
the Dim Sum market. “There is likely to be
few more Dim Sum offerings this year, mainly
from financials. The volume would not be
great,” he said.
The RBC notes have an initial rating of
AA– from S&P and will be drawn from its
US$40bn EMTN programme.
NBC’s notes are expected to score a A+
rating from Moody’s for an issue tol be drawn
from a US$8bn Euro note programme.
Standard Chartered was arranger and lead
manager on both offerings.
INA ZHOU