OREANDA-NEWS. September 26, 2011. Recently, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) issued RMB treasury bonds for the third time in Hong Kong. Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) was qualified as joint leading bank and book runner for this issuance, and ranked No.2 among the five Chinese underwriters who had won the tender. The successful underwriting services have been well received by the MOF, peers and customers, reported the press-centre of ABC.

RMB20 billion treasury bonds were issued in Hong Kong, of which RMB15 billion bonds were for institutional investors. Issuance of the bonds for institutions was completed on August 17, and bids of a total value of RMB69.42 billion were submitted via the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), with a subscription rate of 4.6.
ABC attached great importance to this issuance. Leaders from the Head Office led a team to attend the first meeting concerning the issuance of treasury bonds in Hong Kong held by the MOF and actively strived to participate in the issuance as a major underwriter. Through persistent effort, ABC was finally authorized by the MOF as the joint leading bank and book runner, and as the coordinator for publicity.

As the coordinator for the publicity, ABC had been communicating and coordinating with the MOF and the participating banks with respect to the creative promotion plan since August 3, and finally developed a plan to the satisfactory of all parties.

On August 8, after the promotional conference for the issuance, ABC coordinated and communicated repeatedly with the printing company, advertising agency, law firm and the other seven major underwriters on amending and confirming the poster design to retail investors, which was finally approved by the MOF.

In order to publicize and promote this issuance successfully, ABC Hong Kong Branch published advertisements on several important media and printed exclusively 5,700 posters. In the meantime, the branch conducted thorough market researches and marketing road show to the target customers, and swiftly completed credit approval under the support of the Head Office. In addition, administrative members of the branch also led relevant staff members to visit a number of banks, investment banks and corporate customers to know the customers’ opinions on interest rates of treasury bonds and their attitudes to the tender.

Our efforts have turned to a great success. ABC ranked No. 2 among the five Chinese-funded major underwriters by a tender winning rate of 17.8%. It also received popularity among customers as 83.5% of its customers applying for tender who won their bids. Through the bond underwriting, ABC Hong Kong Branch secured its dominant position in the local financial market and also gained rich experience which provides a solid foundation for its expansion of offshore RMB bonds issuance services.