Global law firm Ashurst acted as the international counsel to the Issuer and Guarantor in relation to the issuance of US$200 million 6.5% Guaranteed Bonds due 2023 issued by ITG Holding Investment (HK) Limited unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Xiamen ITG Holding Group Co., Ltd. (the "Company"), advising on both English and Hong Kong law. The Bonds are listed on Chongwa (Macao) Financial Asset Exchange Co., Ltd. (the "MOX") and were cleared through Macao Central Securities Depository and Clearing Limited (the "MCSD").
The Company is a diversified service provider that is engaged in five main business sectors, namely supply chain, urban construction and operation, consumer and health, financial services and advanced manufacturing businesses. The Company is a state-owned company established in 1995 under Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Finance (the predecessor entity of Xiamen SASAC). In 2022, the Company was named in the Fortune Global 500 for the sixth consecutive year, ranking 106th, a rise of 65 places as compared to the previous year. The Company was also ranked 36th in the Top 500 Chinese Enterprises in 2022. This issuance has set the record for being the largest issuance by a Chinese non-financial institution since the launch of MCSD.
Ashurst has extensive experience assisting Chinese enterprises to issue bonds listed and cleared in Macao (aka the "Lotus bonds"). Ashurst acted as the legal advisor to the managers and the trustees in the first ever Lotus bond in 2019, issued by Zhuhai Huafa.
Lead partner Jessica Li commented: "We are very delighted to have assisted our client on this successful transaction. This issuance has demonstrated the strong profile of Xiamen ITG Holding Group as a Fortune 500 company in the international capital market. It is also the largest issuance of a Chinese non-financial institution since the launch of MCSD, marking a great success of the deepened Fujian-Macao cooperation. We look forward to continuing to support Xiamen ITG Holding Group as well as assisting Chinese SOEs in their financing in the international capital markets."
The transaction was led by partner Jessica Li, supported by Janet Ouyang, Yixuan Pan, Thomas Yau, Jianping Wang, Claire Chen, Aaron Kwong, Jessica Chan, Flora Cheung and Christy Wong.
