ICTSI wins awards for landmark bond deal

ICTSI made a bold move when it turned to a perpetual corporate hybrid bond, which is a relatively new capital markets product in Asia, to meet its fundraising objectives in 2011.

Corporate hybrids are essentially bonds that have equity accounting treatment, including features such as no maturity and optional dividend payments. Through corporate hybrids, companies are able to raise non-dilutive equity, which can be replaced with equity at a later stage as required. While highly beneficial to issuers, allowing companies to raise funds to improve their capital positions without diluting their holdings, ICTSI won recognition for incorporating investor friendly features that made its perpetual securities one of the few bonds to perform in the secondary market in 2011.

The Company’s US$200m hybrid in April 2011 drew a strong response from international investors with an order book totaling over US$800m. It was also able to return to the market in January 2012 to increase the size by another US$150m.