Temasek raises $3.75b from bonds, including 50-year tranche

SINGAPORE - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd raised $2.75 billion (S$3.75 billion) from a clutch of long-dated dollar bonds, including its longest tenor of 50 years, as part of its $25 billion guaranteed global medium-term note programme.

Temasek’s move is part of a growing trend of companies in Asia selling longer-dated tenures, driven by demand from pension funds and others looking for assets that match their far-distant liabilities.

Globally, record-low interest rates have reduced the cost for companies carrying out the deals.

“There was strong support for the bonds from high-quality institutional, accredited and/or other specified investors globally,” Temasek said in a statement on Wednesday.

Temasek Financial (I) Ltd, Temasek’s wholly owned subsidiary, had launched the three tranche offering comprising a 10-year, a 30.5-year and a 50-year bond on Tuesday.

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The final order book was nearly $5 billion from about 285 accounts, according to a term sheet.

Temasek raised $750 million in 10-year debt, $1 billion in the 30.5-year debt and $1 billion in the 50-year bonds.

The 10-year bonds will pay a coupon of 1 per cent, the 30.5-year bonds 2.25 per cent and the 50-year debt 2.5 per cent.

Asian investors were the largest purchasers of the 10- and 50-year bonds while US investors picked up most of the 30.5-year paper, the term sheet showed.

Barclays, Citigroup, DBS, HSBC and Morgan Stanley were the jointbookrunners on the deal.

Ranked among the world’s biggest investors, Temasek’s net portfolio value fell 2.2 per cent to $306 billion in the year ended March 2020, the first drop in four years.

Temasek last sold bonds in November 2019.

In July, Thailand’s largest energy company PTT raised $700 million from the sale of a 50-year bond in Asia’s longest dollar corporate debt deal.

($1 = 1.3682 Singapore dollars)