Herbert Smith Freehills advises State Grid Corp on US$3.5 billion senior notes offering
Herbert Smith Freehills has advised State Grid Corporation of China, the world’s largest public utilities company, on its US$3.5 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S senior guaranteed notes issuance in Hong Kong.
The issuer’s notes were offered in three tranches- US$1.25 billion 2.750% guaranteed senior notes due 2019, US$1.6 billion 4.125% guaranteed senior notes due 2024 and US$650 million 4.850% guaranteed senior notes due 2044.
State Grid is China’s main power distribution enterprise, and is ranked seventh in the latest edition of the “Fortune Global 500”. It is principally engaged in the construction and operation of a power grid network that covers 26 provinces in China, reaches more than 88% of China’s territory and serves a population of over 1.1 billion.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team advising State Grid was led by Hong Kong-based U.S. Securities Practice Head Kevin Roy, Beijing Managing Partner Tom Chau and counsel Zhong Wang. Kevin, Zhong Wang and Tom, who is also Herbert Smith Freehills’ relationship partner for State Grid, were assisted by associates Isaac Chen, Jin Kong and George Wu.
Last year, Herbert Smith Freehills also acted for State Grid on its US$2 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of senior guaranteed notes in Hong Kong.
Tom commented:
“We are long term advisors to State Grid and are delighted to have assisted our client on another of its major transactions. Our relationship has been strengthened by our engagement on this multi-billion dollar deal and I certainly look forward to continuing to be State Grid’s trusted legal advisor on its future business endeavours.”
Kevin commented:
“Our debt capital markets team in this region has been extremely busy in recent months, culminating in the State Grid deal, and this trend looks set to continue. In the past few weeks, we also advised on two dim sum bond offerings by Chinese banks, and the pipeline looks strong.”
HSBC, Goldman Sachs (Asia), Morgan Stanley, BOC International, ICBC International, The Royal Bank of Scotland, ANZ, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho Securities and nabSecurities were bookrunners on the deal.
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Jessica Seah
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