HSBC secures Best Sri Lanka Deal 2010 for sovereign bond

The Central Bank Assistant Governor C J P Siriwardena (centre) with HSBC Asia Pacific Debt Capital Markets Managing Director Alexi Chan and a representative of Finance Asia.

HSBC consecutively won three Bond mandates by the Government of Sri Lanka starting with its inaugural issue in 2007 and subsequently in 2009 and 2010. The most recent, 2010 issue was a landmark transaction in being Sri Lanka’s first USD one billion issue which saw a record subscription at a price of 6.25 percent for 10 year funds.

The success of these mandates were celebrated at the Finance Asia awards held in Hong Kong recently, where Central Bank of Sri Lanka Assistant Governor C. J. P. Siriwardena accepted the accolade “Best Sri Lanka Deal 2010” for the US$ one billion sovereign bond due in 2020.

HSBC acted as Joint Lead Manager and Bookrunner on Sri Lanka’s third international sovereign bond of a USD one billion ten year issue with a coupon rate of 6.25 percent. This attracted an order book that exceeded USD 6.3 billion within 14 hours of opening on 27 September 2010, being oversubscribed more than six times, underscoring the high global investor confidence based on recent progress and the future prospects of Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict in the country.

HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives Chief Executive Officer Nick Nicolaou said, “HSBC has strong Debt Capital Market capabilities in Asia. With a team of over 300 professionals in the region, we have secured this prestigious award for the Government of Sri Lanka on its Benchmark Bond issue.

Over the past four years HSBC has successfully raised financing in excess of USD three billion to finance projects such as telecommunication network expansion, highway and bridge construction, flyovers, solar irrigation, electricity and port development.