The wait is finally over. In the early hours of Tuesday morning Hong Kong time, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam executed a $1 billion 10-year bond offering that became the country's second sovereign bond issue since October 2005.
Initial price guidance for the 144a Reg-S deal was set at a maximum yield of 7%. During final guidance, this was revised to 6.95% to 7%. The bonds were then reoffered with a 6.75% coupon at 98.576 to yield 6.95%, resulting in a very small new issue premium. The yield equated to a spread of 332.7bp over the 10-year benchmark US Treasury.
Barclays, Citi and Deutsche Bank, which arranged the deal, had been quietly confident that they'd...