(23 February 2005 – Singapore) Singapore’s DBS bank and UK bank Standard Chartered have launched a joint S$225 million, five year Fixed Rate Note Issue for Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific.The notes will be issued by CPA Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay.
DBS managing director of Debt Capital Markets, Stephen Finch, said Cathay Pacific had excellent brand recognition and strong profitability and was an ideal candidate for the Singapore dollar bond market.
“This issue highlights Singapore’s growing importance as a regional funding centre and a gateway to Asean investors. In recent year, the bond market here has grown in depth and liquidity and we expect it will continue to attract more issuers of similar calibre as Cathay Pacific,” Finch said.
Standard Chartered managing director of Singapore Fixed Income, Ling Peng Meng, said the issuance was an important milestone in the development of Singapore’s bond market as the majority of offshore issuers were from Europe and the US.
“Given that there has recently been a series of initiatives like the Asian Bond Fund, it is very encouraging to have Asian issuers tapping cross border into each other’s debt markets,” she said.