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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 | |
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.
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.
