Lisbon, February 24, 2020 – On February 19th, Bison Bank served as one of Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners on four tranches of US$1.8 billion bond issuance, under the upsized existing US$5.9 billion Medium Term Note Programme for Huarong Finance 2019 Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of China Huarong International Holdings Ltd.
The four tranches of notes consisted of a 3 year US$400 million fixed-rate bond issuance with a coupon rate of 2.500%, a 3 year US$400 million floating-rate bond issuance with a current coupon rate of 2.807%, a 5 year US$300 million floating-rate bond issuance with a current coupon rate of 2.932% and a 10 year US$700 million fixed-rate bond issuance with a coupon rate of 3.375%. The Notes were unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by China Huarong International Holdings Ltd., with keepwell/EIPU from China Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd.
With the good momentum of the bond market, the bond investors order size reached its highest amount of US$14 billion. This allowed the Issuer to tighten up significantly the pricing range and pushed down the bond yields which the issuer had made much lower funding cost.
China Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd. is a joint stock limited company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China Huarong is a key player in the China’s financial system with strong support from the government and regulatory bodies. It provides multi-licensed, multifunctional and comprehensive financial services in areas such as distressed asset management, asset management, banking, securities, trust, financial leasing, investment, futures and consumer finance.
The Issuer is rated Baa1 by Moody’s and A by Fitch. China Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd. is rated A3 (Stable) Moody’s / BBB+ (Stable) S&P / A (Stable) Fitch. Proceeds are used to repay outstanding offshore notes when they come due.
Bian Fang, Chief Executive Officer of Bison Bank stated that – “This issuance is remarkable and a milestone of Chinese bond issuances. The successful execution of this bond transaction highlights the global bond investors’ faith in China’s ability to defeat Coronavirus. This also shows the great confidence to Chinese high-quality bond issuers and to the Chinese economy. Bison Bank is going to develop more China related businesses, providing full financial services to the clients both in Asia and Europe.”