After two consecutive years of record issuance volume in 2016 and 2017, will it be a hat trick for the Asia G3 bond market in 2018? As one senior banker points out, the issuers are still getting cheap money and this trend is going to continue. Others see a flattish volume in 2018 with the continuing interest rate hikes looming on the horizon.

Amid the diverging opinions from various market participants of what lay ahead, 2017 was a manifestation in consistency of the prolific issuers in the region in terms of the quality of their bond offerings during the year. This is best exemplified by the three outstanding issuers chosen by the board of editors in The Asset Triple A Regional House and Deal Awards 2017.

The Republic of Indonesia (RoI) is a repeat winner as the sovereign issuer of the year with another series of landmark transactions in 2017 across the G3 bond markets – both in conventional and Islamic capital markets. The sovereign commenced its foray in the offshore bond market in 2017 with its biggest offering ever in the sukuk market in March amounting to US$3 billion, exceeding the US$2.5 billion sukuk that it printed in March 2016.

Then in June, following the S&P Global rating upgrade, it issued 100 billion yen (US$888 million) Samurai bonds in three tranches via a public offering with the aim of attracting a greater pool of investors. This was a breakthrough for the RoI as its previous issuances in this market were done through private placement.

And in a landmark transaction arranged in July, the sovereign successfully issued its first ever dual-currency bond offering consisting of US$1 billion each for 10 years and 30 years, and one billion euro (US$1.21 billion) for seven years. The 10- year US dollar tranche achieved the tightest spread to benchmark compared with any of the prior 10-year US dollar issuances from the RoI, while the euro pricing, at 2.15%, was the lowest coupon for any of the previous global offering by the sovereign.

In its final foray in the offshore bond market in 2017 and in line with what was becoming a habit at year-end, the RoI in early December printed its biggest offering ever at US$4 billion in three tranches, including US$1.75 billion for 30 years. Taking advantage of the positive investor sentiment to pre-fund a significant portion of its 2018 budget requirements, it accessed the market ahead of key market events and the anticipated US interest rate hike announced on December 13.

Capping its unprecedented year, the RoI received another rating upgrade from Fitch Ratings from BBB- to BBB with stable outlook, underpinned by its resilience to external shocks.

CK Hutchison once again demonstrated why it is one of Asia’s savviest issuers with a series of well-timed bond transactions in 2017. This was illustrated when it first tapped the market at the end of March to raise US$1.80 billion. The execution was done swiftly and was launched on the back of return to supply in the US dollar bond market following a number of quiet days in the previous week.

In May, the company made a triumphant return to the US dollar perpetual market since 2012 when it priced in May a US$1 billion hybrid offering with a more investor-friendly step-up coupon at the first call date.

In its largest fund raising in the US dollar bond market in 2017, CK Hutchison printed a three-tranche offering in September totaling US$2.25 billion that generated a robust demand from the US investors. It also attracted strong interest from core Asian and European accounts that enabled CK Hutchison to price each tranche at the tight end of the final price guidance.

DBS is also a repeat winner as the best issuer among the financial institutions as it continued to broaden its investor base in 2017 with transactions tapping into new pool of liquidity and demand in different currencies. After tapping the US dollar and the Australian dollar in its previous covered bond deals, it diversified its funding base in the euro bond market with a 750 million euro (US$904 million) issue.

In July, the bank became the first Singapore issuer to price an offshore green bond amounting to US$500 million, which garnered strong demand from both conventional and green investors.

Then in August, it returned to the Australian dollar bond for another covered bond deal amounting to A$900 million (US$709 million) in dual tranche comprising of A$750 million in floating rate notes and A$150 million in fixed rate notes. It was the largest Asian kangaroo covered bond and the tranching was designed to ensure broader investor participation.

Meanwhile, Warburg Pincus was awarded the Best private equity house. In December, it paid US$350 million for a 20% stake in Bharti Telemedia, the direct-to-home television subsidiary of Airtel. WP Investments III was a selling shareholder in the US$741 million IPO for Vincom Retail in Vietnam. In December, it announced that it has raised US$2.3 billion for a new financial services fund, exceeding its target of US$1.6 billion.