CICC, acting as sole rating advisory and lead Global Coordinator, successfully assisted Zhongyuan Asset Management Co., Ltd (“Zhongyuan Asset” or the “Company”) to complete its debut international bond issuance of 3-year 4.20-coupon USD400 million Senior Fixed-rate Notes on Nov. 21, 2019 (the”Issuance”). The Company is rated BBB (Stable) by Fitch and Baa3 (Stable) by Moody’s, and the bond rating is BBB (Fitch).

Zhongyuan Asset is the first local AMC that obtained an investment-grade international rating in China, and has obtained the highest international AMC rating so far. This issuance is the first local state-owned AMC to issue bonds in international markets, which showed the high-quality credit qualifications of local AMC to the international investors. The issuance is a milestone that it has played a positive and exemplary role for other local AMCs, and has a deep meaning for opening up a new financing channel for Chinese local AMCs. The company’s total assets reached RMB75.8bn as of June 30, 2019.

The Company is a top local AMC in the PRC and the leader in Henan Province. The Group is also the first local AMC to engage in the batch transfer of distressed assets from financial institutions in Henan Province. Established under the principle of “government domination, diversified shareholding structure, market-oriented operation and compliance with regulations and high efficiency” guided by the Henan Provincial Government, the Group is an important platform to implement the financial industry development strategy made by Henan Government and promote in-depth financial reform in Henan Province.

During the marketing process, CICC successfully assisted Zhongyuan Asset in introducing sufficient high-quality cornerstone investors, and accumulated a large number of international market orders through the Hong Kong / Singapore / London International Roadshow.Despite the volatile maket condition, CICC assisted the company to take advantage of the in-depth investor communication and strong order base in the early stage to decisively set the book price and launch the market with an initial price guidance of 4.7%, which caused an enthusiastic pursuit of market investors. An hour after the announcement, the book order exceeded USD1.5bn, and the peak value of the day's books exceeded USD2.0bn. Based on strong order performance, the final price guidance has been significantly narrowed by 50 bps from the initial price guidance, which is one of the transactions that have narrowed the most recently.

The offering attracted nearly 70 market-oriented institutional investors to participate in the subscription. Under the current complex market background, the Issuance fully reflects the high recognition of Zhongyuan Asset and Henan by the international capital market, greatly enriching the company's investor group, and establishing a prominent image of Zhongyuan Asset's in the international market. At the same time, in this transaction, CICC exclusively completed all implementation tasks including international ratings, due diligence, document preparation, regulatory communication, roadshow arrangements, and settlement, etc., and won high praise from the company for CICC’s professional services.