COUNTRY REPORT TAIWANextra premium for marketing the notes
amid the geopolitical noise, a banker on the
deal said.
“The market was a bit weak, and Korean
secondaries have widened a bit because of
North Korea,” he said.
North Korea’s foreign minister said
last Monday President Donald Trump
had declared war on the country and
that Pyongyang reserved the right to take
countermeasures, including shooting down
US bombers.
Bankers used comparables such as Lotte
Shopping Business Management (Hong
Kong)’s Export-Import Bank of Korea-
guaranteed deal in August and Doosan
Infracore’s Korea Development Bank-
backed bonds issued back in July. Both
issued US$300m three-year fixed-rate notes
and have the same ratings due to their
state-backed guarantors.
Lotte and Doosan’s bonds were trading at
Treasuries plus 105bp/99bp and Treasuries
plus 106bp/102bp respectively, according to
Tradeweb.
Hanjin’s Reg S notes also have expected
Moody’s ratings of Aa2, as the offering
comes with an unconditional and irrevocable
guarantee from Kexim (Aa2/AA/AA–).
The notes were said to be one of the first
guaranteed Green bond floaters in Asia.
Order book statistics were not released.
The net proceeds will be used to
refinance the construction of the Wilshire
Grand Center skyscraper in Los Angeles,
the tallest in California, built with green
building techniques and materials and
expected to receive a Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold
Certification.
BNP Paribas , Daiwa and Goldman Sachs were
joint bookrunners.› KEPCO SENDS RFP FOR DOLLAR ISSUEKOREA ELECTRIC POWER CORP (KEPCO) sent a
request for proposals last Tuesday for an
offering of US dollar bonds, according to
sources.
The issue is expected to be of a size of
at least US$300m and may hit the market
early next month.
Kepco, a state-owned integrated power
utility, is rated Aa2/AA/AA–.› KIA DRIVES DOLLAR MEETINGSKIA MOTORS CORP will commence investor
meetings across Asia, Europe and the US
on October 9 ahead of an offering of 144A/
Reg S US dollar bonds with a short to
intermediate maturity.
The issuer, rated Baa1/A-/BBB+, is looking
to issue next month.
The Korean car-maker lost a landmark
labour dispute in August, requiring it to
pay about W1trn (US$887m) in additional
wages. Kia also said it would post a third-
quarter operating loss.
In July, Kia had mandated BNP Paribas ,Bank of America Merrill Lynch , Citigroup , Credit
Agricole , HSBC and Nomura as leads.TAIWAN
SYNDICATED LOANS
› STRONG RESPONSE FOR OXO LOANA NT$10.3bn (US$340m) seven-year loan
for TAIWAN-JAPAN OXO CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES to
build a plant in Kaohsiung has received
an overwhelming response in general
syndication.
The facility attracted commitments of
about NT$20bn from 10 banks.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank is the mandated
lead arranger and bookrunner on the loan,
which can be drawn in either NT dollars or
US dollars.
The facility, with a three-year extension
option, comprises a NT$600m term loan
tranche A for the construction, a NT$8.97bn
term loan tranche B to buy machinery and
equipment and a NT$730m revolving credit
tranche C for working capital.
The NT dollar portion will pay an interest
margin of 105bp over Taibor, with a pre-tax
interest rate floor set at 1.7%, before the
project is pledged to the agent. It will pay
a margin of 95bp, with a pre-tax interestCromwell shelves Singapore REIT IPO
Equities Sponsor decides against listing on weaker-than-expected responseCROMWELL EUROPEAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
TRUST (CEREIT) has shelved its downsized
€927m (US$1.1bn) Singapore Exchange IPO
due to insufficient demand.
“We could have settled for a smaller deal
but there were concerns on the after-listing
performance,” a person with knowledge of
the transaction said.
The size of the deal, which would have been
the first euro-denominated share offering in
Singapore, had been cut from €1.1bn after a
weaker-than-expected response.
CEREIT sponsor Cromwell Property Group
said on September 22 it was not going ahead
with the IPO “despite receiving significant
interest from strategic, institutional and retail
investors, given current market conditions.”
“Cromwell continues to believe in
the quality of CEREIT’s portfolio, its
investment thesis, and the exposure it
provides to improving European real estatefundamentals,” said Paul Weightman, CEO
of the Australian property group.
“Cromwell will re-assess the situation
in conjunction with key stakeholders and
strategic partners, and will provide a further
update in due course.”
Demand for the shares was subdued as
investors were unfamiliar with the Australian
sponsor and had concerns over the outlook
for the European single currency.
The revised IPO comprised a base public
offer of 1.27bn–1.30bn shares as against
1.57bn–1.58bn planned earlier.
The price range was unchanged at
€0.55–€0.57 per unit, translating into a 2018
dividend yield of 7.5%–7.7%.
An investor said the deal could have gone
through had the yield been raised to at least
8.5%.
Under the revised offer 938.6m–963.4m
shares were to be sold to institutions, 267.9mto Japanese investors under the Public Offer
Without Listing structure and 63.4m–64.8m
to retail investors.
The cornerstone tranche was unchanged
at 329.2m–334.8m shares and were to be
sold to Cerberus Singapore and Hillsboro
Capital.
The greenshoe option was upped to
131.6m–136.3m shares from 87.7m–90.9m.
The sponsor planned to keep a stake of
25.9%–26.8% in CEREIT, up from around
12% planned earlier.
Shares were to be listed on September 28.
The REIT was to comprise office, retail and
logistics assets in Poland, the Netherlands,
Italy, France and Germany.
Goldman Sachs and UBS were the joint
lead managers and joint global coordinators
with DBS. They were also bookrunners with
Citic CLSA and Daiwa.
S ANURADHA