Opening of the Chinese domestic bond market to French issuers

Gide advised Veolia Environnement on the first issue of Panda Bonds, Renminbi denominated bonds issued on the Chinese domestic bond market, for an amount of  RMB 1 billion (i.e. EUR 135 million).

The transaction was made under a Chinese law issuance programme of RMB 15 billion (i.e. EUR 2 billion), approved by the NAFMII (National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors) for a two-year term.

Veolia Environnement is the first French and the second European corporate issuer to complete a private bond placement on the Chinese domestic market.

Gide’s team comprised partner Hubert du Vignaux and senior associate Laurent Vincent in Paris on French law aspects, and partner Jiannian Fan in Shanghai on Chinese law aspects.

Bank of China acted as lead underwriter and Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole CIB as financial advisors.