CapitaMalls Asia, a Singapore-listed shopping centre developer, has diversified its source of funding as it faces higher borrowing costs on the mainland.
The firm is now issuing bonds instead of solely relying on increasingly expensive bank borrowing and also plans a secondary listing in Hong Kong.
'We took out a loan 10 to 15 per cent higher than the People's Bank of China benchmark interest rate,' chief executive Lim Beng-chee said. 'Previously, we obtained a bank loan at 10 per cent below the benchmark rate.' The higher borrowing costs started to hit earlier this year.
The People's Bank of China has raised the amount of funds commercial banks must keep in reserve six times this year.
It has also raised interest rates five times since October.
Lim declined to give the size of the last loan but said the company was under no funding pressure. CapitaMalls Asia raised S$200 million (HK$1.18 billion) through issuing bonds earlier this year.