Hong Kong property and hotel group Far East Consortium last night raised HK$800 million $103 million from a Hong Kong dollar-denominated convertible bond, becoming the first company in Asia to tap the equity-linked markets this year.
The bonds, which mature in five years but can be put back to the issuer two years after the settlement in early March, was increased from $750 million, making partial use of the $150 million upsize option after the offering was more than two times covered. In fact, one source noted that the momentum after launch was stronger than for some of the later CBs in the fourth quarter, which relied more on the pre-launch wall-crossings. And this...