DeHeng Assisted China Railway Construction Corporation in Issuing 3.5 Billion Offshore RMB Sustainability Bonds

2024-10-14

On September 13, 2024, CRCC Huayuan Limited, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation (“CRCC”), priced and issued RMB 3.5 billion in 3-year offshore RMB sustainability bonds. The bonds were approved for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 26, 2024. CRCC Huayuan was established as a special-purpose vehicle for this issuance, with CRCC providing guarantees.

The bonds received an A3 rating from Moody’s and an SQS2 Sustainability Quality Score (very good), with a coupon rate of 2.6%. This marks the first overseas issuance of sustainability bonds by a central enterprise in the engineering construction industry, setting a record for the lowest coupon rate for dim sum bonds of the same maturity issued by non-financial enterprises. As the issuer’s PRC legal advisor, the DeHeng team, led by partner Wang Yuwei, with Wang Junzhe as the lead business partner and Li Susu as the lead lawyer, provided professional and efficient legal services for the project.