年利达律师事务所近日为中国财政部发行60亿美元政府债券提供了法律意见，安理国际律师事务所则担任了联合主承销人的法律顾问，这是继11月初中国发行40亿欧元国债后，“魔术圈”两律所在同一月内第二次联手为中国发行外币债券提供服务。

根据Dealogic的数据，中国财政部此次发行债券是中国有记录以来发行过的规模最大美元国债。根据路透社的报道，这也是中国发行过的最大规模外币国债，以及亚洲主权国家发行过的最大规模S规则债券。

路透社补充说，这是中国自2017年恢复发行美元国债后第三次发债——此前，中国曾有13年时间中断了相关债券的发行。2017年的第一笔债券曾筹得20亿美元，2018年的第二笔则筹得30亿美元。

作为承销商及簿记行参与此次交易的银行包括德意志银行、中国银行、交通银行、建设银行、中国国际金融有限公司、美国银行、法国农业信贷银行、台湾中国信托银行、高盛、汇丰、摩根大通、瑞穗证券和渣打。

年利达团队此次项目牵头律师为中国区管理合伙人刘克诚。安理国际律师事务所此次项目牵头人为合伙人曾舒颕及顾问律师叶诗敏。

Linklaters, A&O act on China’s record-breaking dollar bonds

Linklaters has advised China’s Ministry of Finance on its sale of $6 billion dollar bonds and 5 billion yuan ($700 million) bonds in Hong Kong, respectively, with the former being the largest ever dollar-dominated government bond issued by China on record. Fellow Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy advised the joint lead managers. This is the second time in one month that Magic Circle firms have acted on such deal since China issued its largest euro bond at the beginning of November.

According to Reuters, this is also China’s biggest ever international sovereign bond and the largest Reg-S offering by an Asian sovereign issuer to date. The sale marked only the third dollar bond sale since Beijing revived its international debt issuance program two years ago after a 13-year hiatus. That comeback deal in 2017 raised $2 billion while a separate transaction in 2018 raised another $3 billion.

Deutsche Bank, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, China International Capital Corporation, Bank of America, Crédit Agricole, CTBC Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Mizuho Securities and Standard Chartered were joint managers and joint bookrunners.

The Linklater’s team was led by partner and China head William Liu; the A&O team was led by partner Agnes Tsang and Of Counsel Jaclyn Yeap.

To contact the editorial team, please email ALBEditor@thomsonreuters.com.