February 3, 2012

COFCO to issue US$634.08 million in unsecured bills

China's state-owned COFCO Corp, a grain, oil and foodstuff import and export firm, will issue RMB4 billion (US$634.08 million) in unsecured bills with a maturity of 366 days on the inter-bank market on February 7.

COFCO said in a statement that these bills are issued at face value, and the coupon rate to be determined during the process of bookbuilding. Both value date and payment due date is set at February 8, and the to-be-issued bills are tradable on February 9.

China Lianhe Credit Rating Co Ltd has rated the bills and the issuer A-1 and AAA, respectively. Bank of China Ltd has been hired as lead underwriter for the deal, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (ABC) will be joint lead underwriter. The group will use the proceeds to repay bank loans.