John Hancock Life Insurance Company of the US has become the first foreign company in 2001 to issue a Singapore dollar bond, in a S$100 million $57.5 million deal via Citibank. It is the third time that the company has tried it's luck on the Singapore bond market, making it the only foreign firm to do so, following the issue of S$150 million of five-year bonds in July 1999 and a S$180 million deal launched in October 2000.
The latest transaction, issued through the John Hancock Global Funding II vehicle, features fixed rate bonds of 10-year maturity that carry an annual coupon of 4.28%. The notes were rated triple-A by Fitch IBCA and double-A...
