(Updates first two paragraphs with launch terms.)
By Natasha Brereton-Fukui and Patrick McGee
SINGAPORE--Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (O39.SG) launched its
$1 billion, 10 1/2-year U.S. dollar bond Tuesday.
The tier II note, which is subordinate to the bank's senior
debt, can be called or redeemed by the bank at the 5 1/2-year mark,
so it is priced against the five-year Treasury bond. It offers
investors an extra 2.55 percentage points over the rate, according
to a term sheet seen by Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday.
Initial guidance had indicated a yield spread of around 2.7
percentage points.
The planned bond is being issued off OCBC's $10 billion global
medium-term note program. If the bond isn't called at the 5
1/2-year mark, the yield will reset to the initial spread over
prevailing five-year swaps.
The bonds are provisionally rated A-plus by Fitch Ratings and
Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service.
The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
and OCBC are bookrunners on the proposed offering. The marketing is
being done in the Rule 144A/Reg S market, meaning the offering is
closed to U.S. investors. Reg S offerings allow borrowers to sell
U.S. dollar bonds without registering them with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Write to Natasha Brereton-Fukui at
natasha.brereton-fukui@dowjones.com and Patrick McGee at
patrick.mcgee@dowjones.com
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