China’s sovereign bond sale falls short

THE morning after is always when reality hits.

Reading the news headlines about China’s recently minted sovereign bond, one could be forgiven for thinking President Xi Jinping’s moment in the capital markets has arrived.

The government’s US$1 billion (RM4.23 billion) of 10-year notes were priced just 25 basis points over Treasuries, with the spread narrowing to less than 10 basis points on Friday.

That puts China in the same category as “AAA-” rated Germany.

Beijing has said it doesn’t need any more dollars, and its first United States currency offering since 2004 was more to set a benchmark for state enterprises borrowing overseas.

The market isn’t buying it. Compare China with Indonesia, a heavy and consistent dollar borrower.

The 4.12 per cent 2027 debentures of PT Perusahaam Listrik Negara, a state-owned monopoly electricity distributor, are trading 55 basis points wide of Indonesia’s 10-year sovereign bond.

Since China is considered more creditworthy than its Southeast Asian neighbour, you’d imagine its quasi-sovereign spread would be narrower.

That’s not the case. The spread over Treasuries of State Grid Corp of China’s 2027 3.5 per cent dollar bonds narrowed just 1.5 basis points on Friday to trade 69 basis points wide of the sovereign while China Petroleum and Chemical Corp’s 3.25 per cent 10-year notes sold in September tightened by a similar amount to a 79-basis-point spread.

Granted, both were bid up as the sovereign sale approached, with spreads of the latter falling 20 basis points this month, but nonetheless, demand for China’s government bond hasn’t helped boost prices as much as one might expect.

The issue, as argued earlier this month, is scale: At US$2 billion, China’s sovereign sale is tiny.

Indonesia’s government, by contrast, has US$38.75 billion of dollar debt outstanding, with due dates ranging from one to 30 years. That makes a nice yield curve against which the nation’s corporates can benchmark.

If anything, China’s sovereign sale will mean more state-owned firms must test the waters for themselves.

China Huarong Asset Management Co plans to meet investors this week for a mixed Singapore and US dollar offering, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The bad-debt manager has already raised US$5.6 billion from international markets this year.

For all the fanfare surrounding China’s first sovereign bond sale in more than a decade, it seems the real work of building a benchmark will fall in true communist style to the people.