Indonesia wasn’t the only sovereign to impress in 2011. Euromoney has long argued the importance of deep, liquid, sophisticated local-currency bond markets in Asia, and the transaction that most clearly spelled out how much improvement has taken place came from Thailand, with a Bt40 billion ($1.26 billion) inflation-linked bond that priced in July.
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| Kingdom of Thailand | |
| Value | Bt40 billion inflation-linked 10-year bonds |
| Sole Bookrunner | HSBC |
| return to the Asian Deals of the Year index | |
It is not as if it was the easiest year for Thailand. It entered 2011 in continuing political turmoil, then had a general election with unexpected results, and was then blighted by the worst floods in its modern history. But the bond demonstrated how Thailand’s markets – stock and bond, domestic and, in terms of foreign participation in the country, international – have remained remarkably resilient no matter what happens there. Having set about a domestic education programme in May and launched domestic and international roadshows in June, the deal finally launched the week after the election.
It flew out the door, gaining Bt65 billion of orders from 65 accounts in 11 countries – quite something for a Thai baht deal.