Hong Kong’s government priced about HK$20 billion of digital green bonds across Hong Kong dollars, renminbi, US dollars and euros. The fourth offering under its Sustainable Bond Programme set a new record for the largest digital bond issuance, the government said. Proceeds will finance or refinance projects eligible under Hong Kong’s Green Bond Framework.
The package comprised HK$5.5 billion of two-year notes at 3.8%, RMB7.5 billion of five-year notes at 1.65%, US$200 million of three-year notes at 5.023% and €450 million of four-year notes at 3.734%, China Daily Hong Kong reported. Subscription ratios ranged from 1.3 times to 11.3 times across the four currencies. Reuters separately reported the pricing of the Hong Kong dollar and renminbi tranches from transaction term sheets.
TOKENISED DEPOSITS ENTER PRIMARY SETTLEMENT
The Hong Kong dollar tranche incorporated tokenised deposits through EnsembleTX into primary issuance settlement. Investors could also use traditional settlement rails, while holders of the Hong Kong dollar and renminbi tranches retained the tokenised central-bank-money option introduced in the previous offering. HSBC Orion served as the digital-assets platform.
The bonds are listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and clear through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Central Moneymarkets Unit. The CMU has links to Euroclear and Clearstream. The transaction also adopted version 2.0 of the International Capital Market Association’s Bond Data Taxonomy.
FOURTH ISSUANCE BROADENS THE MODEL
The government has issued four batches of digital green bonds since 2023. This transaction expands the model by adding tokenised commercial-bank deposits to the settlement choices already available to investors. HSBC acted as joint global coordinator, joint lead manager, joint bookrunner, trustee and principal paying agent.
Hong Kong has said it will continue issuing tokenised bonds and broaden the underlying applications.