Bangkok Dusit Medical last week raised $110 million from the first convertible bond issue by a Thai company since December 2002, taking advantage of the positive investor sentiment towards the healthcare sector.
The issue, which was arranged by Macquarie Securities, has an unusual structure in so far as it is denominated in US dollars but has the baht as the functional currency. This means that the interest and principal payments are fixed in baht, but will be paid to investors in an equivalent amount of US dollars that will vary depending on the exchange rate.
“In the mid-90s there was a lot of US dollar...