Bank of China
Bank of China consistently shows leadership across the league tables when it comes to serving its corporate clients’ fund-raising needs.
China’s fourth-largest bank by assets was top of the debt capital market league tables as the leading loan bookrunner for the year to May, according to Dealogic; it also ranked first for DCM and in fourth place for equity capital markets as bookrunner for big state-owned enterprises. Taking into account both state-owned and private corporate clients, the bank ranked second as DCM bookrunner.
In June 2017, the bank helped leading state-owned insurer China People’s Insurance Group to issue a 10-year capital supplement bond, raising a total of Rmb18 billion ($2.6 billion), with a coupon of 4.99%. This was the insurer’s single largest issuance to date.
Led by chairman and president Chen Siqing, the bank has consistently shown its willingness to engage in financial innovation. Last August, it helped online automobile lender Shanghai Yixin Financial Leasing to issue Rmb502 million-worth of asset-backed notes.
In March, the bank helped Peking University Science and Technology Park raise Rmb1.8 billion through the sale of asset-backed notes. The notes – which were securitized by the trust beneficiary rights the university had through its ownership of the science park – were the first commercial property mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS, ever sold in China.
The bank has also shown leadership in helping a wide range of global issuers to raise funds in China’s onshore bond markets through the sale of panda bonds. Last year in July, for instance, the bank helped Hungary’s central bank to raise Rmb1 billion in the interbank bond markets and with Rmb1 billion-worth of currency swaps. The panda bond, which had a three-year tenor and a coupon of 4.85%, and the currency swaps marked the first time Hungary had entered the Chinese interbank bond market.
The bank has shown leadership with foreign corporate issuers in China too. Late last year, it helped Volkswagen Group’s financial services unit to raise Rmb3.5 billion through the sale of asset-backed securities. The securitization transaction, known as Driver China eight, was backed by vehicle financing contracts from Volkswagen Finance China. The ABS sold in two tranches, with tranche A placed at a fixed interest rate of 5.14%, and tranche B at 5.60%.