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Cosmos offers cash-advance card bonds
By Joyce Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 22, 2003, Page 10
The Ministry of Finance yesterday gave its approval to Cosmos Bank Taiwan's (¸U®õ»È¦æ) plan to start marketing US$340 million worth of bonds backed by its George & Mary cash-advance card loans to overseas and domestic investors.
"This will be the nation's first-ever sale of bonds backed by cash-advance card loans to enter international markets," Huang Tien-mu (¶À¤Ñªª), the ministry's deputy director-general of monetary affairs bureau, told a press conference yesterday afternoon.
The US$340 million deal, to be managed by Deutsche Bank, includes the issuance of US$255 million in beneficiary certificates to overseas investors, US$45 million in subordinate bonds to enhance the bank's credit and the remaining bonds to modulate the cash-advance card's future cash flows, which tend to fluctuate.
In light of its high spread of cash-card loans, the bank will be able to issue an additional US$35 million worth of bonds to designated local investors, Huang said.
The ministry, in a written statement, yesterday lauded the bank's sale to improve bank assets and reinforce its financial structure while upping its business competitiveness internationally.
Cosmos' executive vice president Shih Kung-liang (¬I©[¨}) had said previously that the bank plans to start organizing road shows to meet investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Switzerland, as well as locally.
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