Japanese bond issuers grab lion’s share of SGX bond listings in 2014

It was a record-breaking year for the SGD bond market both at home and abroad.

An increasing proportion of companies that tapped into the SGD bond market for funding are now choosing to list their bonds on SGX.

According to a media release by SGX, there were a total of 149 bond issuances in 2014 and 73% of the total were listed on SGX with, 24% are not listed. In comparison, out of 140 bond issuances in 2013, 58% were listed while 39% were not listed.

Apart from traditionally active Korean issuers, the Asian debt capital market remains vibrant with increased participation especially from issuers in Singapore, Japan and India as reflected in the number of debt securities listed by issuers in these countries in 2014.

Specifically, bond listings by companies in Japan have markedly increased in 2014 compared to 2013. Japanese issuers accounted for 11.5% of total new bond listings on SGX in 2014 versus 9.5% for 2013. In 2014, Japan is the third largest contributing issuer with 60 bonds listed on SGX compared with 44 bonds in 2013 or a 36% increase compared to 2013.

In terms of the amount raised from bond issuances listed on SGX, Japanese issuers accounted for the lion share with 22% in 2014 compared to 18% in 2013. This is a significant increase in comparison with the second largest market share (in terms of funds raised) by Korean bond issuers at 16%, followed by Singaporean issuers at 15%. In absolute terms, Japanese issuers listed debt capital that raised S$48 billion relative to S$32 billion raised in 2013. On average, the amount issued per bond listing by Japanese issuers is S$800 million.

It was also a good year for the home market where bond listings from Singaporean issuers jumped 46% in 2014 relative to 2013 and accounted for 26% of total bonds listed on SGX.