King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has assisted the Province of British Columbia (BC), Canada on the registration of its RMB 6 billion bond issuance program with China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors on December 3, 2015, and its successful issue of RMB 3 billion bonds under the program on January 25, 2016. The tenor of the bonds is three years, and the coupon rate is 2.95% per annum.

Acting as BC’s PRC and International counsel, KWM participated in the entire process of this transaction, and led the preparation and revision of various transaction documents, including but not limited to the application letter, the offering circular, the underwriting agreement and its supplement, and the issuance announcement. KWM also provided BC with PRC legal opinions and advice in connection with the transaction.

KWM’s cross-border team was led by partners Richard Mazzochi and Minny Siu in Hong Kong and partners Christine Chen, Peng Jin and Zhao Yan in Beijing.

This transaction is another innovative sovereign “panda bond” offering following the RMB 3 billion bond offering by the Republic of Korea in December 2015 in China, the first ever sovereign “panda bond” offering, which KWM also advised on.

Stuart Fuller, KWM’s Global Managing Partner, said, “We are thrilled to have supported both sovereign issuers on these landmark transactions that will open doors for new sovereign issuers into China. The successful completion of the two  sovereign panda bond offerings signals the ongoing opening and diversification of China’s bond markets which we believe have the potential to become one of the most important capital markets in the world.”

Leveraging the firm’s local depth in China and global platform, the KWM capital markets and securities team has been at the forefront of the evolving panda bond market from the very first bond issuance in China offered by International Finance Corporation in 2005.