Cathay Pacific again mulls US dollar bond issue

Cathay Pacific (CX, Hong Kong Int’l) According to sources and a preliminary term sheet cited by Reuters, it is considering its first issue of bonds denominated in US dollars since 1996. The amount has not been finalised and will depend on demand. The airline, which continues to burn almost HKD2 billion (USD257 million) a month, according to the South China Morning Post, started to talk to investors this week to determine whether it would issue the US dollar Reg S bonds, which would mean they cannot be offered, sold or delivered within the United States. “We continue to explore capital-financing opportunities if suitable market conditions arise,” Cathay Pacific said in a statement. The airline had previously contemplated such a debt deal in 2019, but it put the plan on hold in October 2019 because potential investors had been demanding too-high a yield due to the anti-government protests that were raging in Hong Kong at that time. The carrier has in the past issued almost all of its debt in Hong Kong dollars, and, as previously reported, it issued HKD6.74 billion (UD868 million) worth of convertible bonds in late January 2021 to help bolster liquidity.