China Oriental Group bond issuance
US$550m
Synopsis
China Oriental Group’s issuance of US$550m five-year, 8% secured high-yield bonds
Firm Client Role
King & Wood
Issuer PRC counsel
Freshfields [Lead lawyers: Kay-Ian Ng, Ken Martin, Calvin Lai]
Issuer US and Hong Kong counsel
Conyers Dill & Pearman   BVI counsel
Jun He   PRC counsel
Davis Polk   US counsel

King & Wood and Freshfields have recently advised China Oriental Group, one of China’s leading steel producers, on its US$550m five-year, 8% secured high yield-bond issuance. Deutsche Bank and ING are joint lead managers and bookrunners on the issue.

The proceeds of the offering will be used to fund projects such as potential acquisitions of steel mills in China, as well as capital expenditure projects at the group's current production facilities and potential investments in iron ore assets.

King & Wood and Freshfields both advised the company on its strategic cooperation with ArcelorMittal Group in 2007. Freshfields has also advised China Oriental on other business endeavours, including its US$258m IPO in 2004, and a defence against a hostile takeover offer from Pioneer Metals.

Meanwhile, King & Wood and Freshfields capital market teams are no strangers to each other, having acted as co-counsel on several other deals including Zhongsheng’s US$370m Hong Kong IPO (advising the issuer), Guangzhou Automobile Corporation’s privatisation proposal for Denway Motors (advising the joint sponsors), and China Pacific Insurance’s US$3.1bn mega IPO in January (advising the issuer). ALB

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