香港社會首次發售伊斯蘭債券

Hong Kong has raised $1bn in its debut Islamic bond issue, the city’s latest move to broaden its markets amid increased competition from rival financial centres.

香港首次發售了伊斯蘭債券，籌資10億美元，這是隨着來自其他金融中心的競爭加劇，香港拓寬市場的最新舉措。

Its sukuk issue is the first by a AAA-rated government, and attracted almost $5bn in orders. Nearly half the available debt was sold to Asia-based investors while a third went to Middle Eastern funds.

這是全球首批由獲AAA評級的政府推出的伊斯蘭債券(sukuk)，吸引了近50億美元的認購資金。近一半的債券出售給了亞洲投資者，三分之一債券出售給了中東地區的基金。

By pricing the five-year sukuk at just 23 basis points over US Treasuries, Hong Kong also achieved the lowest spread for a US dollar bond in Asia excluding Japan.

香港此次發售的債券期限爲5年，收益率與美國國債相比僅多23個基點，是日本以外亞洲地區所發行的美元債券與美國國債最窄的收益率差距。

As the Hong Kong government typically runs a large annual surplus, the capital raised is not required for funding purposes. However, authorities in the territory are keen to tap into the opportunities in the Islamic bond market in Asia, which has centred largely on Malaysia.

香港政府通常每年都會積累較大額盈餘，不需要爲特定目的籌集資金。然而，香港政府熱切希望利用亞洲伊斯蘭債券市場發展帶來的機會。亞洲伊斯蘭債券市場基本上以馬來西亞爲中心。

“Hong Kong has seen an opportunity to step in and fill a gap in the market,” said Karby Leggett, head of capital markets for Greater China and northeast Asia at Standard Chartered. “With this issue, they’ve . . . proved that this market works.”

渣打銀行(Standard Chartered)大中華區及東北亞資本市場主管卡爾比•萊格特(Karby Leggett)表示：“香港看到了進入這個市場填補空缺帶來的機遇。通過此次發售，他們已經……證明，這個市場是有效的。”

Sharia-compliant bonds – which involve debt structured so as to offer a return without technically paying interest – are a fast-growing area in global markets. So far this year, $28.4bn has been raised through sukuks, according to Dealogic, a 30 per cent increase on the same period in 2013.

伊斯蘭債券包含特別結構，以便在技術上不能派息的情況下爲投資者提供回報，它在全球市場快速發展。Dealogic的數據顯示，今年迄今，全球通過發行伊斯蘭債券籌資284億美元，較去年同期增長30%。

The UK became the first western country to issue a sukuk earlier this year, while South Africa and Luxembourg are both poised to follow suit.

今年早些時候，英國成爲首個發行伊斯蘭債券的西方國家。南非和盧森堡都準備發行伊斯蘭債券。

Goldman Sachs has also revived its own sukuk plans, which would make it only the third global bank to issue Islamic-compliant debt, following in the footsteps of HSBC and Nomura.

高盛(Goldman Sachs)也重拾發售伊斯蘭債券的計劃，這將讓它成爲繼匯豐(HSBC)和野村(Nomura)之後，第三家發售伊斯蘭債券的全球性銀行。

John Tsang, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, said the successful sukuk sale was proof the city was now a “viable option” for Islamic law-compliant fundraising.

香港財政司司長曾俊華(John Tsang)表示，此次成功發售伊斯蘭債券證明，在香港進行符合伊斯蘭教規的籌資活動是“可行的”。

“I hope that the sukuk issuance will catalyse the further growth of the sukuk market in Hong Kong by encouraging more issuers and investors to participate in our market,” Mr Tsang said.

曾俊華表示：“我希望，此次伊斯蘭債券發售將鼓勵更多的發行主體和投資者參與到我們的市場，從而促進香港伊斯蘭債券市場的進一步發展。”

Hong Kong has been looking at a range of steps to improve the competitiveness of its markets and attract business from elsewhere in the region.

香港一直在尋求採取一系列舉措來提高其市場競爭力，吸引其他亞洲地區的企業。

In July, the Securities and Futures Commission, Hong Kong’s market regulator, announced plans to overhaul the city’s rules governing real estate investment trusts, or Reits.

今年7月，香港市場監管機構——香港證監會(Securities and Futures Commission)宣佈了修改《房地產投資信託基金守則》的計劃。

In spite of a long history as a financial centre for the region’s property companies, a number of high-profile Reits have chosen to list in Singapore in the past few years, which many analysts blamed on an outdated Reit code.

儘管香港作爲亞洲地區房地產公司的金融中心由來已久，但在過去幾年裏，許多知名的房地產投資信託基金(Reits)仍選擇在新加坡上市，許多分析師將此歸咎於香港過時的《房地產投資信託基金守則》。

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, the bourse operator, is also exploring a revamp of its rules to attract more equity listings. Last month it published a 108-page document putting forward various suggestions for public discussion – such as dual-class shares, which are banned under existing regulation.

香港交易所運營商——香港交易及結算所有限公司(Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing,簡稱港交所)也在研究修改規則以吸引更多公司來港上市。上月，港交所發佈了一份108頁的文件，提出了雙層股權架構等多條建議供公衆討論——按現行法規，同股不同權的架構是不被允許的。

The move followed Alibaba’s decision to take its listing – poised to be one of the largest to date – to New York after Hong Kong rejected its proposed management structure.

在此之前，阿里巴巴(Alibaba)在香港拒絕其提議的管理結構之後選擇在紐約上市，它可能成爲迄今規模最大的IPO之一。

HKEx spent $2.2bn in 2012 to buy the London Metals Exchange, a key step in its effort to move beyond equities trading and into commodities, foreign exchange and bonds. Coal and metals futures trading is due to be launched by the end of this year.

港交所在2012年斥資22億美元收購了倫敦金屬交易所(LME)，這是其努力從股票交易擴展至大宗商品、外匯和債券交易的關鍵一步。港交所將在今年年底推出煤炭和金屬期貨合約。