ADB raises $307 million from first panda issue in over a decade

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised 307 million dollars from its first panda bond issue in more than a decade, representing its largest-ever borrowing in an Asian local currency.

The bond pays a 3.2 per cent annual coupon and features a five-year bullet maturity redeeming in March 2026. It represents the first borrowing from a programme approved by regulator National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors in June 2020.

The offering was 1.86 times oversubscribed and widely distributed to domestic and international investors through centralised book building and auction in the China Inter-Bank Bond Market following a comprehensive programme of investor roadshows and one-on-one meetings.

Proceeds of the bond will be added to ADB's ordinary capital resources and deployed to support ADB's local currency operations.

ADB is a regular borrower in the mainstream international bond markets but has also led issuances in developing Asian countries as part of its efforts to promote local currency bond markets as an alternative to bank lending.

( With inputs from ANI )