Corporate bond issuance slowed down last quarter, with the combined issuance amount falling 44 percent year-on-year to NT$82.84 billion (US$2.91 billion), Taipei Exchange data showed.
That included NT$71.1 billion in regular bonds, down 49 percent from NT$138.28 billion a year earlier, and NT$11.74 billion in convertible bonds, up from NT$9.2 billion, the data showed.
The overall decline was due to a high comparison base last year, when many local companies rushed to issue bonds in the second half of March after the central bank cut interest rates, the exchange said.
Photo: Chen Rou-chen, Taipei Times
However, bond issuance last quarter was higher than in the first quarters of 2015 to 2019, due to the low interest rate environment, the exchange said.
Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank’s (台北富邦銀行) five-year NT$1 billion bonds issued in January had the lowest coupon rate of 0.4 percent in the first quarter, which was slightly higher than last year’s lowest coupon rate of 0.36 percent for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) NT$1.9 billion bonds, the data showed.
TSMC was the biggest bond issuer in the first quarter, with issuance totaling NT$21.1 billion, followed by Yuanta Commercial Bank (元大銀行) and its parent company Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控), which each issued NT$5 billion in bonds, the data showed.
No green bond was issued in the first quarter, compared with four bond issuances totaling NT$7 billion a year earlier.
The Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday said that four companies had applied to issue green bonds, adding that the first of the bonds might be issued later this month.
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