New | Chinese developers scramble to issue panda bonds
Property firms turn to the new financing channel to reduce currency risks
Real estate firms are poised to become the pioneers in China’s panda bond market as part of their efforts to diversify financing channels and avoid foreign-exchange risks.
While panda bonds are still at an early stage of development in the country, a number of developers have shown a strong interest.
Developers such as Longfor Properties, Joy City Property and Agile Property Holdings said during their annual results briefing last month that they planned to issue panda bonds this year.
Agile said it had applied for a 15 billion yuan quota while state-owned China Resources Land was reported to have applied for a 20 billion yuan quota.
“Panda bonds can help solve the exchange risks due to yuan depreciation,” said Paul Au, co-head of Asian credit market syndicate at UBS.
The sharp yuan devaluation last year has largely hurt developers with a heavy offshore lending exposure, with some seeing more than one billion yuan in profit eroded. With the yuan expected to decline further, the firms are in a rush to increase onshore yuan lending to cut their exposure to offshore US dollar bonds.