BEIJING: China will launch an issuance of overseas dollar sovereign bonds late on Tuesday, and the size will exceed the US$3 billion raised last year, an official at China’s finance ministry said on Tuesday.
“The size of issuance will surpass that of previous years,” the official told Reuters.
The ministry will release more information on the sovereign bond issuance, which will help improve China’s offshore bond yield curve, the official said.
China’s government has mandated 13 investment banks to lead a US dollar sovereign bond deal, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters, its third since its international debt issuance programme was revived two years ago.
Initial price guidance for the three-, five-, 10- and 20-year tranches is around 60, 65, 70 and 75 basis points above US Treasuries of the same tenors, respectively, sources with knowledge of the deal said.
It would be the third transaction since 2017 when China launched its first US dollar bond in 13 years. The 2017 deal raised US$2 billion while a separate transaction in 2018 raised another US$3 billion.
China sold its first euro-denominated bond in 15 years earlier in November, raising US$4.4 billion and analysts believe the European markets will become a greater source of funds for the mainland in the future. --Reuters