[SINGAPORE] Swiss bank Julius Baer Group will meet fixed-income investors in Singapore for a potential offering of Singapore dollar Basel III-compliant Additional Tier 1 notes.

If the offering comes to fruition, it will be the private banking group's first foreign-currency AT1s under the Basel III regime. It will also be the first AT1s from a foreign bank in Singapore.

Citigroup, DBS and UBS have been named to arrange the meetings on October 26.

The bonds will feature principal loss absorption in the form of permanent writedown, based on a 7 per cent core equity trigger.

Moody's is expected to assign a rating to the bonds. The agency sees Julius Baer as a A3 credit, while its senior subordinated foreign debt is seen as Baa1 and its domestic senior sub debt as A3.

The decision to debut outside Switzerland for AT1 funds is to diversify its investor base and to tap Singapore investors'well-known appetite for Basel III-compliant bank capital, which has made issuance costs more competitive.

REUTERS