Aspial's placement portion for second retail bond offering oversubscribed

ASPIAL Corp's second retail bond offering of four-year 5.30 per cent bonds due 2020 to institutional and other investors has been oversubscribed within the first day of its launch.

In an announcement to the Singapore Exchange, the conglomerate said that its placement portion to private banking, institutional and other investors received valid applications of over S$25 million in aggregate principal amount of bonds and accordingly, has closed at a size of S$25 million.

Applications for up to S$50 million in aggregate principal amount of bonds under the public offer remain open until 12 noon on March 30.

Although the placement portion has closed, the company said its wholly-owned Aspial Treasury, the issuer of the bonds, may have the absolute discretion to re-open the placement.

"We are heartened that our second retail bond offer has received strong reception from private banking and institutional investors," said Aspial chief executive Koh Wee Seng.

"This is a testament to the attractiveness of the 4-year 5.30% bond offering, as well as investors' confidence in our value propositions and growth potential," he added.

Applications for bonds under the public offer are subject to a minimum of S$2,000 in principal amount of bonds per application and retail investors may subscribe for higher amounts in integral multiples of S$1,000 thereof.

The bonds are expected to be issued on April 1 and are expected to commence trading on the main board on April 4.