HSBC earns US$1.4bln from initial Kangaroo bonds sale

Analysts believe improving lending conditions attracted Asia-Pacific investors as bank expands in the region.

The London-based bank sold A$1 billion (US$ 907.65) of five-year fixed-rate notes and A$500 million ($453.82 billion) of similar-maturity floating notes priced to yield 1.25 percentage point more than swap rates, it said in a statement.

HSBC follows JPMorgan Chase & Co., which raised A$1 billion (US$ 907.65) from similar-maturity bonds Mar. 4 in the first Kangaroo bond sale by a Wall Street firm since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in 2008. New York-based JPMorgan's notes were priced at a 1.3 percentage point spread, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"This is a reflection of improving credit conditions and investors' improving confidence," Tom Irving, head of Asian syndicate at TD Securities Inc., the top underwriter of Kangaroo bonds sales last year, said in a phone interview from Sydney.

"There's nothing like a successful trade to get people's attention, and these are best-in-class type banks."

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, plans to trade its shares in Shanghai and moved Chief Executive Officer Michael Geoghegan to Hong Kong from London to sharpen its Asian focus. The bank halted consumer finance loans in the U.S. after racking up provisions of at least $70 billion in the past four years following its acquisition of U.S. subprime lender Household International Inc.

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