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Singapore-headquartered global commodities group Trafigura Group has issued a Rmb1.5 billion ($210 million) panda bond with a tenor of three years, according to a January 24 media release.
The move marks the return to the panda bond market for Trafigura after a three year period. The 13 investors included commercial banks, asset managers and securities firms.
“Since 2018 Trafigura has been a regular international issuer in the panda bond market which offers competitive pricing for long term capital and adds to the diversification of Trafigura’s sources of funding,” said Claire Chen, Trafigura China’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.
The panda bond programme placed in the interbank market has been registered with the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) for Rmb5 billion, allowing regular tranches to be issued under the programme, according to the media release.
Approval has been received from the People’s Bank of China for the bond’s proceeds to be repatriated offshore where the funds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Bank of China acted as lead bookrunner; while Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank and Postal Savings Bank of China were joint lead bookrunners.
Last year Shangri-La issued its first panda bond in what is a growing market.
