Asia market round up: Big bond boom

The year of bumper debt issuance continues: after a record start to the year, as reported in February’s Euromoney, that saw more than $30 billion of bonds sold, the trend for large-scale deals from the region’s sovereign borrowers and top companies continues. In April, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa sold $1.5 billion-worth of 10-year notes and Australia’s Suncorp-Metway issued $2.5 billion of government-backed debt. On the sovereign side, Indonesia launched its long-awaited debut global sukuk. The $650 million five-year notes yield 8.8%, providing much cheaper funding for the issuer than the five-year tranche of February’s regular bonds from Indonesia, which yield 10.5%.