Bond offerings rose 0.7% to US$14.4b YTD

Proceeds declined by 18.6% to US$6.5b as the end of Q2 approaches.

Primary bond offerings from Singapore-based issuers slightly rose by 0.7% YTD to US$14.4b as local companies tapped both domestic and offshore bond markets to raise funds, Thomson Reuters revealed.

Data showed that as the end of the second quarter of 2018 approaches, total bond proceeds reached US$6.5b, an 18.6% sequential decline from the first quarter of 2018 but up 12.3% from the second quarter of 2017.

Investment Grade (IG) bond offerings from Singaporean companies slowed down by 21.3% in proceeds and 43.7% in issuances, raising US$9.5b. Singapore issuers that tapped the US-dollar bond market raised US$4b, up 8% in proceeds despite the 40% decline in the number of issuances.

Thomson Reuters noted that UOB is currently the most active issuer/borrower in terms of bond proceeds so far this year, capturing 17% market share worth US$2.6b.

“In April, UOB priced its dual tranche offshore bond worth US$1.2b (a US$700m three-year fixed-rate bond and a US$500m three-year floating rate bond). This is the biggest bond issuance from a Singapore company so far this year,” it said.

Meanwhile, DBS currently leads the Singapore bonds underwriting with US$2.1b in related proceeds, capturing 14.9% market share. OCBC and UOB rounded out the top three with 12.5% and 8.1% market share, respectively.

Underwriting fees for Singaporean bonds issuance totalled US$86.7m, up 35.5% compared to last year. DBS Group booked an estimated US$12.9m in fee revenues or 14.8% of Singapore’s bond fee pool.

Firms in financial services led bond market activity and raised proceeds worth US$10.5b, 18.1% higher compared to last year. They captured 72.7% of the total bond proceeds issued by Singapore borrowers.

Government & Agencies captured 16.4% market share worth US$2.4b in proceeds, up 137.2% from the first half of 2017. Real Estate registered 7.4% of the market share with US$1.1b, down 27.1% from a year ago.

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