Cheung Kong prints surprising $500 million floater through StanChart

Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong placed an unusual $500 million three-year floating-rate note on a private basis on Thursday morning, through sole bookrunner Standard Chartered. In contrast to the US or Europe, floaters are a rarity in Asia’s bond markets and are more commonly seen in the loan markets.

The format of the bonds led to rife speculation on the street that Standard Chartered had taken the entire deal on its own books. However, according to a source, the bank only took a small portion of the deal, and the majority of the bonds were placed with a large non-Asian investor.

“We had one big non-Asian investor...