Singapore companies sold US$5.4b bonds this year: Thomson Reuters

SINGAPORE based companies sold a total of US$5.43 billion worth of bonds so far this year, a 1.6 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2014.

These companies tapped both domestic and offshore bond markets to raise funds in several currencies, including USD, SGD and yen, said Thomson Reuters on Thursday.

The Singapore borrowers tapped the US-dollar bond market and raised US$1.4 billion in proceeds, up 32.1 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2014.

By industry breakdown, the financial sector raised US$4.3 billion, a 163.7 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2014, and represented 78.3 per cent of the total bond proceeds raised by Singapore borrowers.

High technology followed second and captured 11.7 per cent market share with US$634.6 million. Real Estate, which accounted for majority of the proceeds during the first quarter of 2014, slipped to third place this year with US$247.3 million, down 77.6 per cent from a year ago, and had 4.6 per cent market share.

HSBC Holdings currently leads the underwriting this year with 24.1 per cent market share, with related proceeds of US$1.3 billion, up 178.2 per cent over a year ago. OCBC Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch round up the top three with 12.9 per cent and 9.2 per cent market share, respectively.