United Company RUSAL Plc (“RUSAL” or the “issuer”) successfully completed the book building of 2017 Non-Public Issuance of Corporate Bond (First Tranche) on 16 March, 2017. CICC acted as Sole Underwriter and Book Runner for the transaction. Rusal's first tranche Panda Bond issuance in the Shanghai Stock Exchange is a milestone event in China's capital market, representing the first ever issuer from Russia and the Belt and Road Initiative Region.

To ensure a success issuance of the first tranche issuance, CICC facilitated Rusal with extensive road show to qualified Chinese institutional investors. Based on deep understanding of the market, the tenor of the first tranche was set to 3 years with a put option by investors at the end of the second year; and the underlying size was set to RMB 500 million. The 1sttranche was fully secured by China United SME Guarantee Corporation, with bond rating enhanced to AAA. On March 16, 2017, the book building of the 1st tranche was successfully completed with a total size of RMB 1 billion and an attractive coupon rate of 5.50%.

Rusal is the world's second largest manufacturer of primary aluminum and aluminum alloys, and is listed on multiple stock exchanges, including the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. As the first ever Russian and “Belt and Road” country Panda bond issuance, this landmark deal indicates the welcome stance of the Chinese capital markets and will further strengthen the financial and economic collaboration between China and international countries. The issuance of the bond is also in line with national policy guidance with the capital market playing amore strategic role in servicing the “Belt and Road Initiative”.

As the sole arranger and book builder, CICC conducted comprehensive due diligence on the issuer, and worked closely with regulators and other service providers, to achieve better understanding of the issuer’s fundamentals and several critical breakthroughs in the product design, approval, marketing and sales process, significantly promoted Panda bond product development.

The CSRC and the Shanghai Stock Exchange gave a highly complimented the issuance, and considered that the successful completion of this Panda Bond was a trail-blazer in the capital market, further expanding the financing channels of the countries on the "Belt and Road" map and deepening the financial cooperation between China and the "Belt and Road" countries.

The successful debut of RUSAL’s panda bond symbolized the open-up of the China’s capital market in support of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, and showcased CICC’s strong caliber in servicing international corporations in China as well as in the global financial markets, further demonstrating its “Chinese Roots” and “International Reach”. CICC looks forward to work closely with more international corporations providing top standard global capital market services.