HSBC, Thai Farmers Bank
The development of the Thai local bond market has been outstanding this year. And so it is not surprising that the best deal of the year should come from this country. The Bt5 billion $125 million, split 3-year, 5-year bond deal for the Export Import Bank of Thailand Thai Exim Bank, showed how sophisticated the local market has become. It also showed how a difficult financing challenge could be turned into an outstanding deal through the informed use of the local capital markets.
Initially, Thai Exim Bank needed to raise around $150 million in the international markets to refinance its maturing, offshore debt. This would have cost...