BEA China culminates $304.5mn bond sale

The bank to use the proceeds to optimize its capital and liability structure and improve the management of liquidity risks.

Bank of East Asia Ltd.'s China unit said on Monday it completed a CNY2 billion ($304.5 million) yuan-denominated bond sale on China's interbank market Friday.

Bank of East Asia (China) Ltd. sold the two-year bonds at 4.39%, it said in a statement. The unit said earlier it would use the proceeds to optimize its capital and liability structure and improve the management of liquidity risks.

The deal was the second yuan-denominated bond sale in mainland China by a foreign commercial bank, following a CNY1 billion ($152.59 million) sale of such paper in May by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.'s China unit, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Beijing has been encouraging foreign firms to raise funds in the Chinese currency as part of its efforts to gradually transform the tightly controlled yuan into a major global currency. HSBC Holdings PLC and Standard Chartered PLC have said they plan to issue yuan-denominated bonds in China.