HSBC facilitates US $ 500 m bond for Bank of Ceylon

HSBC acted as Joint Book-runner and Joint Lead Manager on Bank of Ceylon’s debut US $ 500 million 144A/Reg S 5-year Bond offering that was successfully concluded in April 2012 followed by a comprehensive global roadshow covering, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK and the USA

Ahead of the issuance, Bank of Ceylon secured its first international ratings of BB-/B1 (Fitch/Moody) with HSBC acting as Joint Ratings Adviser.

Nick Nicolaou, Chief Executive Officer for HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives said, “This is a landmark transaction not only for Bank of Ceylon, but also for the country as it is the first ever US $ benchmark bond from a Sri Lankan issuer other than the sovereign. The transaction achieved a very well balanced allocation across the 3 key geographies and opened up the international markets for other Sri Lankan borrowers.”

The success of the issue was marked by the robust orderbook of US $ 3.86 billion via 215 investors with an oversubscription of 7.7 times the issue size.

Book building began on Thursday 26 April during the Asia Morning with Bank of Ceylon announcing a new US $ 5-year transaction, on the back of strong indicative orders coming from the road show.

This is the fifth consecutive US $ bond mandate for HSBC from Sri Lanka and becomes the only bank to have led every Sri Lankan US $ benchmark bond issuance.