Last week Bank of China sold $350 million in three-year floating rate notes linked to the Secured Overnight Fundraising Rate (SOFR), a relatively new rate published by the New York Federal Reserve and tipped to replace U.S. dollar Libor. It was the first such offering from Asia’s private sector.
While the BOC’s issue was relatively small, bankers involved in the deal said they expected it will open the market for other borrowers.
Christophe Cretot, head of debt origination and advisory, Asia-Pacific at Credit Agricole CIB, was involved in the deal and said the BOC’s SOFR tranche was “defensively sized” to allow underwriters to sound out interest in the new securities.
The full article is available at https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-asia-bonds-sofr/asian-bond-issuers-gear-up-for-new-benchmarks-as-sun-sets-on-libor-idUKKBN1WT0K6