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Taiwanese lenders are leveraging their international banking relationships with the aim of becoming increasingly active on both the issuer and bookrunner side of offshore renminbi bonds.
Taiwanese banks and securities houses are relying on their relationships with domestic and overseas issuers to build their credentials as bookrunners in the offshore renminbi bond market to coincide with the growing use of renminbi in Taiwan.
"Certainly what I am seeing is that they are becoming more active in the offshore renminbi market, and are doing exactly what the Chinese banks have done in the past two to three years," said one syndicate banker who is arranging an offshore renminbi, or dim sum, bond with a Taiwanese bank. "Three years ago you never saw any Chinese bank on any deal but in recent years they have wanted to get more exposure to the capital markets so they began getting on deals through their banking relationships. That's same evolution for Taiwan."
The latest example comes from Hong Kong-based UA Financial (BVI), which preparing to price a dim sum bond on April 24 with bookrunners Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (Asia), RBS and IBTS Asia, a Taiwanese brokerage. Pricing guidance is around 7% for the five year deal.
UA Financial, a consumer financing company part of Sun Hung Kai & Co., will use the proceeds for general purposes as well as refinancing for its debut dim sum bond, a Rmb500 million (US$80.94 million) three-year note sold April 18, 2011. Standard Chartered Bank was sole bookrunner for the deal which...