Indicative applications for the HK dollar-denominated government retail bonds totaled 34,700 in number and 8.24 billion HK dollars (1.06 billion US dollars) in subscription amount, the co-arranger and booker runner HSBC said Monday night.

The subscription period for the bond offering closed at 2:00 p.m. Monday. Preliminary information received by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government showed the indication applications surpassed the planned size of approximately 5.25 billion HK dollars (673 million US dollars).

The subscription period for the retail bond offering was extended to Monday due to the typhoon on July 16. As a result, theprice-fixing date to determine the price and tranche sizes for theretail bond offering will be postponed to July 22. The listing of the global bond offering will take place on July 27. However, the interest payment dates and the respective maturity dates for the two tranches of the retail bonds will remain unchanged.

The global bond offering comprises three parts, totaling 20 billion Hong Kong dollars (2.56 billion US dollars). A US dollar-denominated institutional tranche of 10-year notes, two Hong Kong dollar-denominated institutional tranches of five-year notes and 15-year notes, two Hong Kong dollar-denominated retail tranches oftwo-year bonds and four-year bonds to be offered to Hong Kong retail investors.

Source: Xinhua