Despite the fact that Chartered says it has no firms plans to launch a convertible bond, market players believe that a $300 million to $500 million transaction is very much in the offing. A small number of relationship banks are said to have been aggressively competing for a deal, which would rank as Asia's only outstanding offering from the pure semiconductor sector, following the redemption of an $85 million issue by Taiwan's Orient Semiconductor.
Previously, banks have pitched the idea of an exchangeable offering to Chartered's majority shareholder government-owned Singapore Technologies, which remains keen to further reduce its 62.6% stake. This time round, however, specialists say that the company is...
