HSBC partners Government of Sri Lanka for 14th successive Sovereign Bond issuance

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), on behalf of the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (GOSL), returned to the US dollar bond markets for the second time in 2019, pricing a very successful new issuance of $500 million 5-year and $1.5 billion long 10-year Senior Unsecured Fixed Rate Bonds with maturity dates of 28 June 2024 and 28 March 2030, respectively. The CBSL announced an intra-day drive-by transaction on the 24th of June 2019, capitalising on the conducive market backdrop. The strong interest shown from a wide range of high quality investors across the US, Europe and Asia, allowed the GOSL to tighten price guidance by 25bps each across both tranches.

HSBC acted in the capacity of Joint Lead Manager, Bookrunner and Ratings Advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka for this issuance.  This is the GOSL’s fourteenth US Dollar benchmark offering in the international bond markets since 2007, and the long 10-year tranche marks the longest tenor issuance to date in the international market, underlining the international investor community’s continued support for Sri Lanka and their confidence in the country’s economic fundamentals and long-term growth prospects. HSBC, the largest international bank in Sri Lanka, is the only bank to have acted as bookrunner on each of the issuances. The final orderbook stood at over $1.8 billion for the 5-year tranche and over $4.4 billion for the long 10-year tranche, reflecting total subscription of $ 6.2 billion (three times over subscription), clearly highlighting global investors’ continued confidence in Sri Lanka and their positive outlook on Sri Lanka’s economic growth story.

The Bonds have been rated ‘B2’, ‘B’ and ‘B’ by Moody’s Investors Service, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, respectively.