UOB Issues Digital Asset Offering of S$600 Million on Marketnode’s Platform
by Fintech News Singapore June 17, 2021UOB has tapped Marketnode’s digital asset issuance, depository and servicing platform to issue its latest bond offering of S$600 million, with a final orderbook of more than S$1 billion from a total of 73 accounts.
Marketnode, a joint venture between Singapore Exchange and Temasek, is an exchange-led digital asset venture focused on capital markets workflows through smart contracts, ledger and tokenisation technologies.
The platform leverages distributed ledger technology to connect various parties involved in the transaction, from issuers to investors, and to tokenise the capital security, so that smart contracts can be created and conducted for greater efficiency.
The digital bond is run in parallel with the conventional issuance process.
The bank’s AT1 securities have been priced at a fixed coupon rate of 2.55 percent, which UOB said is the lowest for a benchmark perpetual securities for banks in Singapore.
The transaction saw a subscription rate of 1.7 times, supported by an extensive investor base comprising both quality institutional accounts and private banking investors. Ninety-two percent of them were based in Singapore while eight percent were international offshore investors.
The perpetual capital securities are expected to be rated Baa1, BBB- and BBB+ by Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings respectively.
UOB is the sole global coordinator and, together with Credit Suisse, HSBC and Standard Chartered, the joint lead managers and bookrunners.
Wee Ee Cheong
Wee Ee Cheong, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, UOB, said,
“UOB is fully behind the development of Singapore’s digital capital markets infrastructure and the smooth transition to a SORA-centred financial market.
As more global issuers and investors come on board and participate in Singapore’s digital capital markets, we will see further strengthening of Singapore’s status as the region’s financial hub.”
Featured image: Photo by Christoph Theisinger on Unsplash
