THE first Australian dollar dragon bond issue will be launched early next week, to be followed by US dollar issues, say market sources.
The issuer of the pioneering Australian dragon is rumoured to be a foreign-owned bank in Australia, believed to be Hongkong Bank of Australia, with the issue lead-managed by Wardley.
It will be a five-year issue amounting to A$100 million (about HK$548 million).
''There should be good investors' demand since the deposit base for the Australian dollar is quite big in the region,'' a dealer said.
Although dragon bonds are traditionally a US-dollar-dominated market, bonds in other currencies are gradually making debut appearances, including yen issues.
Samsung Corp issued a five-year, 10 billion yen dragon bond in December.