Telstra BigPond News
Saturday, March 06, 2010. HSBC Holdings Plc has sold $1.5 billion in Australian-dollar denominated 'kangaroo bonds', the largest such issuance in more than two years.
The issuance would include $1 billion of fixed-rate bonds and a further $500 million of floating-rate notes would be unsecured and unsubordinated, HSBC said in a statement on Friday.
The fixed-rate bonds had a coupon of 6.75 per cent and were priced at 1.25 percentage points over the mid swap rate.
The floating bonds were priced at 1.25 percentage points more than the three-month bank bill swap rate.
All the bonds are due to mature in March 2015 and have a AA rating from Standard Poor's and Moody's Investors Service.
'Our objective was to further diversify our investor base with a transaction focused specifically on Australia and the Asia-Pacific region,' HSBC head of senior funding Neil Sankoff said.
Fund managers made up 61 per cent of investors, followed by banks. By geography, Australian investors bought 67 per cent, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore.
The lead managers of the sale were HSBC, together with the ANZ Banking Group Ltd, Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd, National Australia Bank Ltd and Westpac Banking Corp.
