恆大66億美元債券發行引投資者擔憂

An outsized $6.6bn bond deal by Evergrande, the Chinese developer, risks raising borrowing costs in Asia’s booming bond markets, analysts have warned, following a rare first-day price fall that left buyers of the deal nursing losses of $250m.

分析師警告稱，中國房地產開發商恆大(Evergrande)龐大的66億美元債券發行，可能會提高亞洲蓬勃發展的債券市場的借款成本。此前恆大這筆債券的價格遭遇罕見的首日下跌，這讓買入這筆債券的投資者遭受2.50億美元損失。

Asian companies have tapped international markets at a record pace this year, raising $128bn in US dollar-denominated bonds — almost double the amount at this point last year, according to ANZ. But the struggles of companies such as Noble, the Singapore-listed commodity trader, and MIE Holdings, the China-based oil and gas group undergoing a distressed debt exchange, have raised fears about the borrowing outlook for riskier junk-rated groups.

澳新銀行(ANZ)數據顯示，今年亞洲公司在國際市場的發債規模達到創紀錄水平，它們通過發行美元計價債券融資1280億美元，幾乎是去年同期的兩倍。但一些公司的困境（例如在新加坡上市的大宗商品交易商來寶(Noble)和進行不良債務交換的中國油氣集團MI能源控股公司(MIE Holdings)），讓市場對風險更高的垃圾級公司的借款前景感到擔憂。

Evergrande exchanged $2.8bn of existing debt but also raised $3.8bn in new funds — far more than investors initially expected. The three new bonds included a single $4.7bn bond, with a coupon of 8.75 per cent, that set a new record in terms of deal size for Asia — 50 per cent bigger than the previous record sold just last year.

恆大把28億美元的現有債務進行了交換，還籌集了38億美元的新資金，遠遠超出投資者最初的預期。新發售的3只債券包括一隻23億美元的債券，票面利率爲8.75%。

“There is a growing appreciation that Chinese companies will fund as much as they can offshore and that markets may struggle to digest the supply,” said Owen Gallimore, credit strategist at ANZ. Evergrande’s $4.7bn deal was so large that investors fear the company’s needs are larger than thought, which may spur it to attempt another bond issue soon, he added.

澳新銀行信貸策略師歐文?加利莫爾(Owen Gallimore)表示：“人們越來越認識到，中國公司將盡可能多地在海外融資，市場可能難以消化這些債券供應。”他補充稱，恆大66億美元的債券交易規模非常大，投資者擔心，該公司的需求超出人們的想象，這可能促使恆大嘗試不久後再次發債。

Evergrande, which is rated single B, has already tapped the bond markets twice this year for $2.5bn.

恆大債券的評級爲B，之前已在今年兩次發債，籌資25億美元。

Junk-rated bond issuance has accounted for about 45 per cent of all international bonds sold by Asian companies this year, compared with just 20 per cent two years ago, as rising onshore borrowing costs have pushed Chinese groups to tap overseas markets.

在今年亞洲公司發售的所有國際債券中，垃圾級債券的發行佔大約45%，而兩年前僅爲20%，原因是不斷上升的國內借款成本促使中國企業轉向海外市場。

“Evergrande’s deal was a lot of paper at one time,” said Charles Chang, head of Asia credit strategy at BNP Paribas, who had predicted Evergrande could aim to sell up to $2bn in new bonds — one of the higher estimates. “People didn’t expect it but a healthy dose of scepticism does help when it comes to companies’ new issues.”

“恆大這次交易的規模太大了，”法國巴黎銀行(BNP Paribas)亞洲信貸策略主管Charles Chang表示，“人們沒預料到這點，但在公司發新債時，保持合理的懷疑確實是有幫助的。”他曾預測，恆大可能計劃最多發售20億美元的新債——這還是屬於較高的估計數字。

All three new Evergrande securities ended their first day of trading on Thursday at about 95 per cent of par, or face value, implying a paper loss of more than $250m for bondholders. First-day falls of that magnitude are extremely rare in the absence of specific bad news. Prices recovered slightly by Monday, with the three new bonds trading at between 98 and 99 cents in the dollar.

恆大發行的所有3只新債在上週四首個交易日收盤時的價格大約都是票面價格的95%，意味着債券持有者的賬面虧損超過2.50億美元。在沒有特別糟糕消息的情況下，如此大的首日下跌幅度極其罕見。債券價格在本週一略有回升，這3只新債目前的交易價格爲票面價格的98%至99%。

Evergrande and Kaisa, a rival developer that also swapped debt last week, sold $11bn of bonds between them — more than the total sold by all Chinese developers over the past two years, Mr Gallimore said.

加利莫爾表示，恆大和中國另一家房地產開發商佳兆業(Kaisa)總共發售了110億美元債券，超過過去兩年中國所有房地產開發商發售的債券總規模。佳兆業上週也進行了債券交換。

Many buyers of Evergrande’s deal were upset.

很多購買恆大債券的投資者感到失望。

“There is upsizing a deal — and then there is this,” said one bondholder. “It’s the ultimate ‘stuff you’ as they took all the real money on the table.”

“他們擴大了發行規模，接着又出現了這種情況，”一位債券持有者表示，“他們拿走了桌面上所有的真金白銀，最終卻把你一腳踢開。”

People involved in the transaction said investors had time to withdraw bids after the deal size was known.

參與此次債券交易的人表示，在交易規模公佈後，投資者有時間撤單。

Total bids for the new paper came to $7.2bn, according to bankers. But would-be investors typically submit bids much bigger than they actually want, in the expectation that orders will exceed supply and their final allocation will be closer to their real target.

據銀行人士表示，新債券的認購總額高達72億美元。但潛在投資者一般提交的認購額會遠遠超出他們的實際需求，因爲他們預計認購量將超出供應量，他們最終的分配額將更接近實際的目標。

If demand is strong enough, a company may increase the size of its deal, but it risks upsetting investors if they feel the company has taken too much.

如果需求足夠強勁，一家公司可以擴大發行規模，但如果投資者覺得公司拿走的太多了，可能會感到失望。