Singaporean telecoms incumbent and satellite operator SingTel has raised US$700m through a bond offering of 5.5-year US dollar-denominated notes.
The notes, which were issued via subsidiary SingTel Group Treasury Pte, carry a coupon of 2.73% and priced…
Singaporean telecoms incumbent and satellite operator SingTel has raised US$700m through a bond offering of 5.5-year US dollar-denominated notes.
The notes, which were issued via subsidiary SingTel Group Treasury Pte, carry a coupon of 2.73% and priced at 99.795 to yield 2.415%, equivalent to a spread of 150bp over US treasuries.
SingTel stated that the issue was drawn down under its S$10bn euro medium term note programme and is part of its long-term financing strategy to extend the debt maturity profile of the group. Proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes.
The offering comes almost exactly a year after SingTel last tapped the US dollar market with a US$600m 10.5 year 4.5% bond via BNP Paribas, HSBC and Morgan Stanley.
Jeann Low, SingTel’s chief financial officer, commented: “We are pleased with the strong support and confidence shown by investors. This bond offering forms a critical part of our strategy to optimise our debt structure and broadens our sources of funding.”
The telco had originally planned to issue around US$500m of notes but increased it following strong investor demand. The offering was 4 times oversubscribed with an order book of approximately US$3.25bn from 214 accounts. Asian investors accounted for the majority of the purchasers with European funds taking almost a quarter of the notes.
Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley acted as joint lead managers and bookrunners on the transaction.
