Bank of China (BOC) has recently issued US$3.8 billion worth of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)-themed multi-currency and multi-tranche bonds to raise funding for medium- and long-term BRI projects.

This transaction involves eight tranches of bonds in five currencies, issued by five BOC branches, namely the Luxembourg branch, Hong Kong branch, Frankfurt branch, Sydney branch and Macau branch. The currencies are the US dollar, the euro, renminbi, the Hong Kong dollar and the Macau pataca. The bonds will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and for some tranches, on additional stock exchanges including the China Europe International Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

BOC has issued BRI-themed bonds five times in seven currencies since 2015, with a total value of US$14.6 billion. In the last round, European investors accounted for 83 percent of the investors for the euro-dominated bonds.

The joint lead managers for each of the bond issuances were advised by the Allen & Overy team, led by partner Agnes Tsang and Of Counsel Jaclyn Yeap, with support from lawyers Tiffany Tse, Alan Zhang, Catherine Wong and Evelyn Zhu.

Tsang comments, “This is a landmark transaction which demonstrates the strong confidence of global investors in BRI-themed bonds and more broadly in collaboration with BRI related projects. We have also seen the growing ambition of Chinese banks in participating in the multi-billion-dollar BRI.”