Temasek offers $1b of 10-year bonds in first sale
Temasek offers $1b of 10-year bonds in first sale
Netty Ismail, Bloomberg/Singapore
Temasek Holdings Pte, the Singapore government's investment fund, will sell US$1 billion of bonds in its first debt offering, e- mails showed.
Temasek, which managed investments of S$103.5 billion (US$61.8 billion) as of the end of March, plans to sell bonds maturing in 10 years, said the e-mails, which were sent to investors by the sale's arrangers. The company may price the bonds to yield more than 40 basis points, or 0.4 percentage point, more than like- maturity U.S. Treasuries, one of the e-mails said.
Temasek is taking advantage of low borrowing costs as Chief Executive Ho Ching expands investments outside of Singapore in a bid to lift returns, which averaged 3 percent a year in the decade ended March 2004. Ho, who is married to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, oversaw recent investments in banks in China, India, South Korea and Indonesia.
Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are managing the sale, sale documents show. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which was last week hired by Temasek according to an e-mail sent to investors, is no longer one of the underwriters.
JPMorgan Chase spokeswoman Pholida Phengsomphone in Hong Kong declined to comment as did Temasek spokeswoman Eva Ho in Singapore.
Temasek's planned sale is part of a $5 billion medium-term note program, according to sale documents. The sale will give investors access to the first top-rated global bond in Asia outside Japan. Temasek is rated the highest investment grade, Aaa, by Moody's Investors Service and AAA by Standard & Poor's.
Moody's last week said it expects Temasek to "gear up its balance sheet" to fund its investment of about $3.6 billion in Bank of China, the nation's second-largest lender.
Temasek posted group net income of S$7.6 billion for the year to March 31, a 3.8 percent rise from the previous year, bond offer documents showed.
Group revenue rose to S$68.7 billion from S$56.5 billion the previous year, according to the bond-sale prospectus.
Temasek expects to set terms of the bond sale on Sept. 14, the e-mail said. The 30-year-old company would promote the sale to investors in Singapore, Los Angeles, New York, Munich and Frankfurt on Monday, the e-mail showed.
The company will on Tuesday meet investors in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Boston, Newark and London, the e-mail said.