The Zhuhai-based Huafa Investment Holdings Group issued a corporate bond earlier this week at a financial policy meeting in the Hengqin International Finance Center.
It’s the first time a corporate bond has been issued in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone, according to a report in the Macau Daily Times. The Hengqin authorities added that they were the first bonds to be traded, book-kept, and priced in Chinese, English, and Portuguese.
Huafa Investment Holdings was also the first business in Hengqin to issue bonds in Macao, doing so at the Chongwa (Macao) Financial Asset Exchange on 28 April. Those bonds were simultaneously listed on the Luxembourg bourse.
[See more: Macao plans to grow its bond market, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng tells lawmakers]
Officials want to encourage enterprises in Hengqin to connect with the capital markets of Lusophone countries via Macao.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng told legislators in April that the Macao government would “proactively promote” the emergence of a local bond market, saying that it formed a key part of Macao’s plans to reduce its economic dependence on gaming.
Ho has been advocating a so-called “one plus four” strategy, with the number one economic pillar of tourism being supported by four other sectors. Besides financial services, the sectors are health services, technology and the staging of international events.
