Slovenia enters China’s bond market with record sovereign panda deal
Slovenia has issued bonds denominated in Chinese yuan on the Chinese market.
The size of the issuance amounts to 4 billion yuan, or around €500 million, CE Report informs via the Ministry of Finance of Slovenia's official website.
The lead arranger was Bank of China, in cooperation with other Chinese banks.
The Ministry of Finance announced the mandate for the issuance of the so-called panda bond on March 24. The order book officially opened with an initial interest rate range between 1.70% and 2.20%. The issuance attracted strong interest from domestic Chinese interbank investors. Robust demand allowed the issuer to price the bond within the lower end of the initial range, with the final coupon rate set at 1.89%.
“This landmark transaction represents the largest inaugural panda bond issuance by a sovereign in the history of the panda bond market,” the Finance Ministry said.
It added that “with this issuance, Slovenia is strengthening its position as a progressive and innovative issuer in Asian capital markets and demonstrating a proactive approach to diversifying its funding sources.”
The lead arranger and bookrunner was Bank of China, while joint arrangers and bookrunners included China Construction Bank Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, HSBC Bank (China), and The Export-Import Bank of China.
In the investor structure, banks accounted for 98.2%, brokerage firms for 1.2%, and foreign investors for 0.6%. Geographically, China accounted for 93.4%, Hong Kong (China) for 6.0%, and Africa for 0.6%.
