Cathay Pacific raises US$650m in first US dollar bond in 25 years

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific has raised US$650 million in its first US dollar bond in 25 years, a term sheet seen by Reuters showed on Monday.

The deal consisted of 5.25-year senior unsecured notes priced at 4.875 per cent, the term sheet showed.

The final pricing was 32.5 basis points cheaper than indicated by the deal's book runners when launched earlier in Asia on Monday.

Cathay did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The airline will use the proceeds to bolster its working capital levels and fund general corporate purposes, the term sheet said.

A US dollar bond will be the pandemic-hit carrier's first since 1996 as it primarily has issued its debt in Hong Kong dollars.

Cathay issued HK$6.74 billion (S$1.15 billion) of convertible bonds in Hong Kong dollars in January to shore up liquidity, prompting its shares to record their worst daily decline in more than 12 years.

The carrier's shares were up 1.8 per cent on Monday.

Cathay said in March it was focused on preserving cash after posting a record annual loss of HK$21.65 billion, caused by a travel downturn, restructuring costs and fleet writedowns.

Passenger numbers fell by 98.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, though cargo carriage was down by a smaller 32.3 per cent.

Cathay had planned a US dollar bond issuance in 2019 at the peak of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong but pulled the transaction because of the price demanded by investors.

REUTERS