Investors in Asia snap up fixed-for-life perpetuals

Hong Kong

ASIAN companies are testing just how far investors are prepared to go in their search for yield in a "low flation" world.

Issuers in Asia excluding Japan have sold US$14.5 billion of perpetual bonds so far this year, a record for any half-year period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While most of the notes have rates that step up as time goes on - a characteristic that can spur issuers to buy them back - a striking aspect of the boom is that at least US$3 billion of the total in the region is made of up securities that have fixed interest payments.

Coupon payments for bonds that have no set maturity date have been as low as 4.45 per cent - as sold by Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd, Hong Kong's largest developer. Junk-rated Road King Infrastructure Ltd, another property builder, has also tapped the…