Recently, the 2017 Hunan Provincial Overseas Bond Issuance Business Seminar hosted by the Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission and hosted by the Hunan Branch of bank of China was held in Changsha. More than 200 people attended the meeting, including Hunan Provincial and Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Hunan Provincial Administration of Foreign Exchange, Bank of China Head Office, Bank of China Hong Kong Branch, Hunan Branch and local branches, Moody's Investors Service, and nearly 60 enterprises and financial institutions in the province that intend to issue bonds.
The purpose of this meeting is to provide relevant advice and key guidance for enterprises that urgently need to issue bonds overseas. Tang Zi, deputy director of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, pointed out in his speech that in the current important period of foreign debt reform and innovation, through the issuance of bonds by enterprises abroad, the "two resources and two markets" at home and abroad can be used as a whole to broaden financing channels for the industrial transformation and upgrading of our province and international production capacity cooperation. The Provincial Development and Reform Commission will attach great importance to and do a good job in the service of enterprise foreign debt issuance.
At the meeting, Bank of China explained the advantages of overseas bond issuance, the operation process and key points of overseas bond business, the main reference factors of the international rating of local state-owned enterprises, the debt preservation plan of enterprises and the situation of the foreign exchange market. Overseas bond issuance has the advantages of flexible use of raised funds and fewer policy and regulatory restrictions, which is conducive to broadening financing channels and enhancing the image of enterprises and local governments. The overseas issuance of bonds by enterprises is in a favorable period of policy encouragement and rapid development, and bank of China said that it will make use of its rich experience, professional team and global superior resources to provide services and technical support for the issuance of foreign bonds by Xiangqi enterprises as always.
The convening of this seminar not only enabled the representatives of enterprises to have a deeper understanding of overseas bond issuance, but also established a communication platform for governments, enterprises and banks, and many enterprises also expressed their strong willingness to issue overseas bonds. From January to May 2017, China's foreign debt issuance exceeded US$80 billion, an increase of 127% year-on-year. In the current environment of tightening funds in the domestic bond market as a whole, overseas bond issuance will provide an important financing channel for Hunan enterprises to "go global". With the approval of the Changsha Linkong Economic Development Zone and other important opportunities, foreign debt will provide strong support for the construction of important infrastructure in Changsha. (Liang Jingya, Li Xing)