ICBC has recently issued public offering panda bonds valued RMB 600 million for Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (“SMIC”) in Chinese inter-tank bond market, expanding lead underwriting of non-financial corporate debt financing to panda bonds. Also, the deal hit a record low, in price for non-financial corporate panda bonds issued in Chinese inter-bank bond market, effectively reducing financing costs for the issuer. 

In recent years, given the trend of RMB internationalization, In the first five months of 2016, non-financial corporate bonds for which ICBC acted as a lead manager amounted to RMB 241.7 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 32%. The Bank ranks atop among peers in terms of value in deals as lead manager

Panda bond is a RMB bond issued by overseas institutions in China. Since 2015, with the inclusion of RMB in SDR, China’s capital market has experienced deepening of two-way opening. In addition, regulators have released new regulations on the issuance of panda bonds, in which the scope of issuer is further expanded and procedures are streamlined, creating a positive environment for growth of panda bonds.