United Envirotech's S$225m bond sale eight times subscribed

UNITED Envirotech Ltd's (UEL) S$225 million bond sale got orders of over S$1.8 billion with strong demand from institutional and private bank investors.

The membrane-based water treatment solutions provider priced the three-year bonds at 4.70 per cent, the company said on Friday.

The proceeds from the issue will be used by the company for refinancing of existing borrowings, making investments and/or acquisitions, general working capital and corporate purposes.

The eight-times subscribed offering attracted strong interest from both institutional and private bank clients.

The bond sale saw banks taking 9 per cent, fund managers 22 per cent and private banks/retail 69 per cent.

"With an order book of over S$1.8 billion, it is one of the largest order books seen in the Singdollar bond market this year," it said.

Lin Yucheng, UEL's chairman and chief executive, said: "We are delighted with the overwhelming interest and support we have received for the notes offering. The strong demand underpins confidence in United Envirotech's value proposition as well as in our major shareholder, Citic Environment."

In April 2015, Citic Environment became a controlling shareholder with a 55 per cent stake in UEL. Citic Environment is wholly owned by Citic Ltd, which is China's largest conglomerate.

Another substantial shareholder in UEL is KKR, a global investment firm with about US$103.2 billion in assets under management.

The strong demand for the bonds is due to its enhanced shareholding, said Clifford Lee, DBS Bank head of fixed income. DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank handled the deal.

In 2013, UEL had to pay 7.25 per cent for a three-year S$100 million issue to mainly private bank investors.