Singapore – Vantage Data Centres, an IT service management firm, has recently announced the completion of its inaugural bonds in the Asia-Pacific region through its wholly-owned subsidiary, PowerDC Holdco Pte. Ltd. This strategic move consists of a five-year SG$100m bond and a three-year HK$300m bond, equivalent to approximately US$114 million combined.
According to the firm, the bonds are also listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and guaranteed by Credit Guarantee & Investment Facility (CGIF), a trust fund of the Asian Development Bank.
Furthermore, the funds generated from the bonds will be allocated for the refinancing of PowerDC’s outstanding debt, which complements the company’s commitment to pursuing innovative funding solutions, diversifying funding sources, and effectively managing risks and returns.
These bonds were further rated AA by Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings and are issued under the ASEAN+3 Multi-Currency Bond Issuance Framework (AMBIF). The SGD and HKD issuances are Asia’s first investment-grade local currency bonds in the data centre sector, with the SGD tranche achieving an oversubscription of 3.7x at the time of pricing.
Joel Cheah, chief financial officer, APAC at Vantage Data Centres, said, “The bond issuances represent a first-of-its-kind on many fronts. This is only made possible due to the team’s relentless pursuit of innovative and trailblazing financing strategies, which enables Vantage to diversify its funding sources and extend our APAC investor base to debt capital investors.”
“We are delighted with the strong investor interest shown in our APAC business; the oversubscription and success of this bond issuance is a clear endorsement of our financial standing, credit worthiness, and business strategy,” he further added.
Kelvin Chong, head of global capital markets for ING at Asia Pacific, also shared, “We are pleased to celebrate Vantage’s listing of its inaugural SGD and HKD bonds and to play a key role in their efforts to diversify funding sources through ING’s innovative and integrated-product solutions.”
He further noted, “These bonds mark several milestones in the ASEAN bond market, including being the first rated data centre bond in ASEAN, the first rated local currency data centre bond, and the first HKD bond guaranteed by CGIF. We thank Vantage and CGIF for their close collaboration throughout this transaction.”
Meanwhile, Hongwei Wang, chief executive officer at CGIF, commented, “We are thrilled to support PowerDC’s bond issuances, marking key milestones not only for ASEAN+3, but also for the Asian bond market—it is ASEAN’s first rated data centre bond and Asia’s first rated local currency bond issued by a data centre operator.”
“This transaction demonstrates that credit-enhanced local currency bonds are a viable financing channel for data centers. We hope that this landmark transaction will catalyse future bond issuances in the ASEAN+3 digital infrastructure space,” concluded Wang.
