Deals of the year - Top quality issuers succeed in demanding markets
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) did things in the grand style when it made its debut on the capital markets. Its 10-year $1 billion deal has been the largest ever pure Eurobond from the region and the biggest single-tranche offering from Hong Kong in 1999. In some sense it was revolutionary too. Launched four months after the successful Hutchison Whampoa e500 million ($529 million) deal, the KCRC transaction was the first Eurobond issue denominated in dollars that turned its back on the US investor base and proved that Europe and Asia could deliver size and a competitive price. The bond, which was two and half times oversubscribed, was increased first from $300 million and then from $500 million. Some 50.7% of the bonds were placed in Asia, 46.8% in Europe and the remaining 2.5% in the rest of the world.
KCRC - the second Hong Kong operator after Mass Transit Rail Corporation (MTRC) - made its first appearance on the international financial scene in September 1998 when the company was invited alongside the biggest borrowers from the region, such as MTRC, Korea Telecom and China Telecom, to present itself at the annual HSBC Asian debt conference in New York.