OREANDA-NEWS. December 01, 2011. Baosteel Group (Baosteel) successfully issues 3.6 billion yuan offshore RMB-denominated bonds. This is the first time that Mainland China non-financial enterprise issues bonds directly in Hong Kong and it's the largest transaction of enterprise issuing RMB-denominated bonds in Hong Kong until now, reported the press-centre of Baosteel.

The issuance of Baosteel RMB bonds is divided into three parts, including 1 billion 2-year bonds with 3.125% of interest rate ; 2.1 billion 3-year bonds with 3.50% of interest rate; 500 million 5-year bonds with 4.375% of interest rate. The successful issuing of Baosteel RMB bonds in Hong Kong effectively promotes the RMB internationalization process.

HSBC Holdings and Deutsche Bank are joint global coordinators of this issuing, Merchants Securities (HK), DBS Bank, ICBC International and Standard Chartered Bank are joint bookrunners. The transaction is expected to be completed within five working days and will be on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

On November 21, the ratings of three international rating agencies (Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch) on Baosteel are A3, A, A-, outlooks are all stable, which is the world's highest level  for steel enterprises. The Baosteel bonds rating is the same with company rating. In road shows in Singapore and Hong Kong, investors are impressed with Baosteel's clear development strategy, transparent governance structure and sound financial policies.

The funds raised from issuing Baosteel bonds will be used for capital increase of its overseas subsidiary Baosteel Resources (International).