Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP has successfully advised HNA Capital Group Co., Ltd. (HNA Capital) on the offering of US$200 million 4.5% guaranteed bonds due 2018 by BL Capital Holdings Limited, an offshore company that operates as a special purpose vehicle for HNA Capital, underwritten by Barclays Bank PLC, Bank of China Limited, China Everbright Securities (HK) Limited, and Guotai Junan Securities (Hong Kong) Limited.

Completed on 17 August 2015, this is the first third-party guaranteed U.S. dollar bond deal in China. The bonds are guaranteed by China United SME Guarantee Corporation, with the benefit of a “keepwell deed” provided by HNA Capital. Under the keepwell deed, HNA Capital will undertake to ensure that the issuer has sufficient liquidity to make timely payments under the bonds in accordance with their terms of payment as and when due.

HNA Capital is an integrated financial services provider that operates under the HNA Group, which also owns China’s fourth largest airline, Hainan Airlines. China United SME Guarantee Corporation, headquartered in Beijing, provides credit enhancement on financial products such as bonds and loans.

The Cadwalader team was led by Beijing corporate and capital markets partner Rose Zhu and Hong Kong capital markets partner Jeffrey Maddox, and included senior associates Eugene Gu, John Kim and associates or law clerks Yanyun Lin, Ian Li, Anny Cheng, Congsi Wu and Monica Zhang.

Cadwalader has been advising clients in China and across the Asia-Pacific region for over a decade, providing premier legal services to leading U.S., U.K. and European financial institutions and multinational companies doing business and making investments in Asia. Cadwalader also serves China-based entities in their international business activities and investments into the U.S. and throughout the world.