Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises on China Hongqiao Group's issuance of US$300 million high-yield bonds

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised the lead managers, Deutsche Bank, ANZ, BofA Merrill Lynch, BOC International and Morgan Stanley, on China Hongqiao Group Limited's issue of US$300 million 6.875% senior notes due 2018. This was the only Chinese high-yield bond priced in October. This transaction follows two other prominent high-yield deals on which Clifford Chance also recently advised: the Geely Automobile Holdings Limited US$300 million high-yield senior notes in September and Yingde Gases Group Company Limited US$250 million high-yield senior notes in August.

Hong Kong partner Richard Lee led on the deal and said, "We were delighted to work on this successful issuance which was oversubscribed. Asia's high-yield market is developing with increasing volume of transactions in the region and more diversified deals coming to the market. Recently, we have been seeing more non-real estate companies raising money through this instrument and are happy to be assisting the companies that are leading this trend."

Richard was supported by associate Yue Song and paralegal Vivian Li.

China Hongqiao Group is a leading large-scale aluminum product manufacturer in China. Geely Auto is one of the leading indigenous automobile companies in China, focusing on sales of passenger vehicles and manufacturing and sales of automobile parts and components. Yingde Gases is a leading supplier of industrial gases and has established manufacturing sites in many regions of China.