China’s first marketing of CNY and euro dual-tranche green bonds saw AllBright Law Offices and Guantao Law Firm advising the issuer, Shanghai Lingang Economic Development.
The offshore notes, namely free-trade-zone (FTZ) bonds, include a 2.98% RMB1 billion (USD138 million) three-year bond and a 3% EUR50 million (USD49.8 million) one-year bond, which were oversubscribed two and three times, respectively.
FTZ bonds provide an option allowing companies to tap both onshore and offshore capital markets, and to remit the foreign currency-denominated bond proceeds out of the Shanghai FTZ without specific restrictions.
The issuance of the FTZ bonds involved the achievement of multiple innovative firsts, including using a special purpose vehicle (SPV) issuer with a cross-border guarantee; the mainland’s Shanghai International Arbitration Centre acting as an arbitrator based on Hong Kong common law; dual currency financing in the FTZ; and listing both on the SGX and ChongWa Financial Asset Exchange in Macau.
AllBright was led by senior partner Yu Bingguang, while Chen Xiaochuang and Li Dequan led Guantao’s team.
