Seazen Mulls New China Bond Insurance Guaranteed Onshore Bond Issue

Hong Kong-listed Chinese developer Seazen Group is in talks with state-owned China Bond Insurance Co. Ltd. for a new guaranteed onshore bond issue, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The company is aiming preliminarily to raise CNY 1.5 billion ($211.9 million) from the issue, and expects to obtain the guarantee letter from China Bond Insurance as early as the end of September, said two of the sources familiar. Size and terms of the proposed bond issuance is not final and subject to changes, sources said. The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors provides credit enhancement for bond issues via China Bond Insurance. Developers have issued domestic bonds with China Bond guarantees since 2022 as part of China’s post-Covid efforts to give real estate companies liquidity support. Seazen’s onshore subsidiary Seazen Holdings have issued several tranches guaranteed bonds including most recently in May CNY 1.36 billion dual-tranche medium-term notes, with one CNY 800 million 3.2% three-year series and one CNY 560 million 3.4% five-year series. Part of proceeds from the May issue were for repaying the company’s interest-bearing debts and the group’s offshore bonds, developing residential real estate projects, and the remaining were used as working capital. Hong[...]