亚洲企业债市场在壮大

This summer, Samsung Electronicsdid something rare for an Asian company: it convinced US bond investors to look at it as a high-grade global company rather than a bet on emerging markets.

今年夏季，韩国消费电子集团三星电子(Samsung Electronics)做了一件对于亚洲企业来说颇不寻常的事：该公司说服美国的债券投资者将其视为一家高信用等级的全球化企业、而不是一家立足于新兴市场的高风险企业。

This might not sound like a huge leap, but only a couple of financial borrowers from Asia have done this before – and it made a big difference in the interest the consumer electronics group is paying on its first US dollar bond.

也许这听上去算不上重大跨越，但在此之前仅有少数几家亚洲金融企业在发行企业债时做到过这一点——三星此次发债需支付的利率水平相对于其所发行的第一笔美元债有了明显回落。

Western investors have traditionally looked at non-Japanese Asian borrowers from the top down as an emerging markets play first, then through the prism of the strength of the local sovereign, and finally to the company itself.

西方投资者过去习惯于按自上而下的顺序考察日本以外亚洲国家的发债融资企业——首先归入风险较高的新兴市场板块，其次考察企业所在国家的国力强弱，最后才考察企业本身。

This now appears to be changing. Samsung turned the process round and ultimately priced its five-year $1bn deal at a lower yield than that of the South Korean government at the time, according to bankers on the trade.

这种思维定式似乎正在转变。据经手此次发行的银行家介绍，三星扭转了西方投资者对新兴市场企业的考察顺序，最终使得其五年期10亿美元债券的发行利率低于同期的韩国主权债。

Now Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google, is conducting a roadshow to sell its first US bond deal, which will also be the first deal from China to be fully registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, meaning in theory that even retail investors could buy the bonds. “Samsung was the catalyst for a Baidu or anyone else with the right rating and financial reporting to start to not price as an EM company but as a high grade company, says a banker familiar with both deals.

百度(Baidu)目前正在为首次在美发售公司债进行路演，这也将是第一种在美国证交会(SEC)完整注册的中国企业债券。这意味着从理论上说，即使散户投资者都可以认购百度所发债券。百度在中国国内的地位等同于谷歌。一名熟悉三星及百度发债交易的银行家表示：“三星的成功经验是一种催化剂，在其影响下，百度或者其他任何具备足够信用等级以及亮眼财务数据的公司，开始寻求不再按照新兴市场企业、而是按照高信用等级公司为自身所发债券定价。

These and other signs suggest the Asian bond markets are growing up. Issuance has hit record levels. There have been more 30-year deals and more debut borrowers, some even without credit ratings, than ever before.

以上交易以及其他迹象都表明，亚洲的企业债市场正在发展壮大。发行量创下历史最高记录。三十年期债券的发行量比以往任何时候都多，首次发行债券的公司数量多于以往，其中一些公司甚至没有信用评级。

Yields, which move inversely to prices, have hit record lows. The iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment grade index, which measures the cost of protecting corporate bonds against default, fell to about 112.5 basis points in September, though it has widened out slightly to about 124bp now.

与价格反向变动的债券收益率水平则跌至历史低点。iTraxx日本以外亚洲投资级指数9月份跌至约112.5个基点，不过目前已略微扩大至124个基点。该指数衡量的是企业债券的违约担保成本。

“As sovereign yields in Asia have declined, investors have started to take on more credit risk, says Stephen Williams, head of debt capital markets in Asia Pacific at HSBC. “We are also seeing people moving down the yield curve to 10-, 15- and 30-year deals.

汇丰银行(HSBC)亚太债券市场部主管史蒂芬·威廉姆斯(Stephen Williams)表示：“随着亚洲国家主权债收益率趋于下降，投资者开始选择信用风险更高的投资标的。我们也看到有投资者开始延长投资期限，涉足十年、十五年以及三十年期债券。

Cnooc, the Chinese oil company, enjoyed strong demand when it sold $1.5bn 10-year and $500m 30-year bonds together this summer, according to bankers involved. It became the first Asian company to price its 30-year debt at the same spread, or premium, over government bonds as its 10-year. Not long after, Sinopecfollowed and priced a 30-year bond with a lower spread than its 10-year. Both highlighted the strength of demand from insurers and pension schemes to find returns that can fund their long liabilities.

中国石油企业中海油(Cnooc)今年夏季同时发行了15亿美元的十年期债券以及5亿美元的三十年期债券；据参与交易的银行家透露，此次发行得到了市场的热烈追捧。中海油将其三十年期债券相对于同类政府债券的利差定为与其十年期债券的利差相等，这在亚洲企业中尚没有先例。不久之后，中石化(Sinopec)采取了类似策略，将三十年期债券对于政府债券的利差定得低于其十年期债券的利差。这两家企业的发行情况表明，保险公司以及养老金计划为了履行长期支付义务，需要取得投资回报的需求十分巨大。

“I think it is a sign of growing maturity in Asia that we’re seeing so much more variety of issuance, says Jon Pratt, head of debt capital markets in Asia at Barclays.

巴克莱(Barclays)亚洲债券市场部主管乔恩·普拉特(Jon Pratt)表示：“我认为债券发行种类大大丰富表明，亚洲企业债市场正在趋于成熟。

The question is whether Asian borrowers are simply benefiting from a reluctance among investors to put their money in Europe. This has been a peak year in Asian issuance, especially in the so-called G3 currencies of US dollars, euros and yen. Until the start of this week, financial groups and companies alone had issued almost $100bn of bonds, almost twice the $55bn issued over all of last year. Local currency financial and corporate bond issuance is about 40 per cent ahead of last year.

问题的关键在于，当前亚洲企业债市场的大好形势是否仅仅是投资者不愿将资金投往欧洲市场的结果。亚洲的企业债发行量今年达到峰值，特别是以美元、欧元以及日元（所谓G3货币）计价的外币债券。今年以来截至上周末，仅亚洲的金融类企业就发行了约1000亿美元债券，较去年全年的550亿美元增长了近一倍。亚洲以本地货币计价的金融债和企业债的发行规模也较去年全年增长了约40%。

But bankers and investors believe that most of the money, particularly the institutional money, that has switched to Asian credit is there for the long term.

但银行家和投资者认为，进入亚洲债市的绝大多数资金——尤其是机构资金——都是以长期投资为目的的。

Pyramis, the institutional arm of Fidelity, has switched to using GDP-weighted benchmarks to help set its allocations between different countries. “We are using this because it aligns the investment weight given to countries more closely with their abilities to pay, says Curt Hollingsworth, fixed income portfolio manager at Pyramis.

富达(Fidelity)旗下的机构投资部门Pyramis已转而采用GDP加权基准，去衡量如何在不同国家进行资产配置。Pyramis固定收益投资组合经理科特·霍林斯沃思(Curt Hollingsworth)表示：“我们采用这种方法，是因为它能将对各国的投资权重与该国的偿债能力更加紧密地联系起来。

Ooi Boon Peng, chief investment officer for fixed income at EastSpring Investments, adds that central banks around the world are putting greater long-term allocations towards Asian fixed income.

瀚亚投资(Eastspring Investments)固定收益部首席投资官黄文彬(Ooi Boon Peng)补充称，全球各国央行也增大了对亚洲固定收益债券的长期资产配置权重。

Furthermore, while European financial group issuance may be at its lowest since 2003, corporate bonds are having one of their best years as companies take advantage of the low interest rates to stock up on cash. In total, the European market has still seen almost $900bn worth of deals this year, highlighting the difference in scale.

除此之外，虽然欧洲金融企业的债券发行量或处于2003年以来的低点，今年成为其他非金融类企业债券发行情况最好的年份之一，这是因为企业能够利用利率处于低位之机大量囤积现金。总体而言，欧洲企业债市场今年以来的发行规模仍达约9000亿美元，相对于亚洲市场的规模差异显著。

“The increase in Asian issuance, even if it’s a $50bn leap [as with the G3 currencies], which seems enormous here, is in a global context not a big number, says a senior debt banker in Hong Kong.

香港从事债券业务的一名资深银行家表示：“亚洲企业的债券发行量即使猛增500亿美元，虽然在亚洲市场内部来看颇为可观，但若放在全球背景下来看就不那么显眼了。