Linklaters advised the Hainan government in a maiden double, with its first offshore bonds, which also marked the first local government in China to issue blue and sustainability bonds.
The RMB5 billion (USD691 million) issuance comprised a 2.42% RMB1.2 billion two-year blue bond, a 2.65% RMB2.6 billion three-year sustainability bond and a 2.85% RMB1.2 billion five-year sustainability bond, which were 2.2 times oversubscribed.
A blue bond is a subset of green bonds and a debt instrument for healthy oceans and blue economies.
Hainan officials said they will appropriately increase the amount of the bonds, diversify the bond issuance and broaden the use of funds in the future, depending on the actual construction needs of the free-trade port, and the domestic and overseas bond markets.
The project was led by partners William Liu and Michael Ng. Linklaters is the only international law firm that provides legal services to all Chinese local government offshore bond issues
