By K J M VarmaBeijing, Jan 7 (PTI) China-led Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank (AIIB), in which India is a second largestshareholder, plans to issue its first US dollar-denominatedbond with minimum worth of a USD billion by June this year.
With 84 members so far, the AIIB was officiallyestablished in December 2015 and opened for business inJanuary 2016.
The Beijing-based AIIB is a multilateral development bankinitiated by China. The bank has an authorised capital of USD100 billion.
Soren Elbech, treasurer of the Beijing-based multilateraldevelopment bank, said in a statement that the earliestissuance window will be "toward the end of the first half of2018," with time required for certain procedures, includingthe Board of Governors' approval of AIIB's 2017 financialstatements as well as borrowing and swap documentation.
Elbech said the minimum size of the issuance will be onebillion dollars, but as demand for the first bond issue from atriple-A multilateral institution in 25 years may be large.
"We anticipate having to issue a larger size."In terms of maturity of the bond, Elbech said the choicewill be between three and five years depending on investordemand at the time, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
He said the bank plans to cap its total borrowing volumeat USD three billion dollars in 2018.
The AIIB has received three top-notch ratings from theglobal credit rating agencies S&P Global Ratings, Moody's andFitch in recognition of the bank's strong capital base andstable outlook.
China is the largest shareholder with 26.06 per centvoting shares in the bank. India is the second largestshareholder with 7.5 per cent followed by Russia 5.93 per centand Germany with 4.5 per centIt prioritises investment in energy, power generation,transport, rural infrastructure, environmental protection andlogistics in Asia. PTI KJVAMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.