On November 19th, the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China announced that it successfully issued 4 billion euros of sovereign bonds on behalf of the central government in Luxembourg on November 18th. In just half a month, China has twice opened the window for issuing foreign currency sovereign bonds, continuously sending a positive signal of China's financial market opening to the world. During the issuance, international investors actively participated, casting a vote of confidence in Chinese sovereign bonds with repeatedly high subscription multiples. International capital is eagerly voting for China's sovereign credit, and the "unprecedentedly strong market demand" - the Ministry of Finance's re issuance of euro sovereign bonds after a year, with a subscription demand of over 100 billion euros, has attracted keen attention from the market. According to information from the Ministry of Finance, the 4-year term is 2 billion euros, with an issuance interest rate of 2.401%; 7-year term of 2 billion euros, with an issuance interest rate of 2.702%. International investors subscribed enthusiastically, with a total subscription amount of 100.1 billion euros, which is 25 times the issuance amount. Among them, the 7-year subscription multiple reached 26.5 times. After the start of bookkeeping and filing for this issuance, it received enthusiastic subscription from global investors, attracting over 1000 institutions to participate, and the final order size exceeded 100 billion euros. ”Yan Shoujing, Head of Capital Markets and Managing Director of Standard Chartered Bank in Greater China and North Asia, told Shanghai Securities News reporters. Standard Chartered Bank is the joint lead underwriter, bookkeeper, and settlement and delivery bank for this bond issuance. It is reported that this issuance has set a historical record for the issuance of Euro sovereign bonds in China, with the total order size increasing more than six times compared to the Euro sovereign bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance in 2024. Ultimately, driven by robust bookkeeping, strong pricing was achieved, and both bonds achieved significant price reductions. The enthusiastic market response is also reflected in the diversification of investor types. Yan Shoujing revealed that a considerable proportion of global investors in this bond issue come from central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and public institutions of various countries; From the perspective of investors' geographical distribution, more than 65% of investors are allocated outside of Asia. This fully reflects the strong confidence of the international investment community in China, as well as the benchmark position of this issuance in the global market, "said Yan Shoujing. According to information from the Ministry of Finance, offshore investors from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States account for 51%, 35%, 8%, and 6% respectively, while sovereign, fund management, banking and insurance, and trading types account for 26%, 39%, 32%, and 3% respectively. Wang Yunfeng, President and CEO of HSBC Bank (China) Co., Ltd., told Shanghai News reporters that this issuance fully reflects the firm confidence of the international market in China's sovereign credit and economic prospects, and also provides a pricing benchmark for more Chinese issuers' Euro financing, laying a solid foundation for their overseas financing and development. This is the first time that China has issued euro sovereign bonds in Luxembourg and the second time in half a month that it has issued foreign currency sovereign bonds, following the issuance of a $4 billion sovereign bond in Hong Kong on November 5th. Overall, both issuances received enthusiastic responses from the market. Among them, the total subscription amount of US dollar sovereign bonds reached 118.2 billion US dollars, which is 30 times the issuance amount and the highest among all previous US dollar sovereign bond issuances. In the eyes of industry insiders, in the current global financial market, China's issuance of foreign currency sovereign bonds not only provides new safe asset options for international capital, but also conveys China's determination to deepen connectivity with the international financial market. Huang Jian, the head of Greater China at JPMorgan Global Enterprise Bank, told the Shanghai Stock Exchange reporter that choosing Luxembourg, an important European financial center, as the place for issuing euro sovereign bonds will help deepen exchanges with European institutional investors and release positive signals of China's capital market deepening opening-up and further integration into European and international financial markets. The successful issuance of Eurobonds is another foreign currency sovereign bond issued by the Ministry of Finance this month, following the issuance of US dollar bonds. It not only sends a positive signal to investors about China's high-level opening up and deep integration into the international financial market, but also creates broader space for future financial cooperation between China and Europe by strengthening interaction between China and multiple financial centers in Europe. ”Wang Yunfeng stated. Zhang Xiaolei, Global Co President of Financial Institutions at Standard Chartered Bank, stated that the successful issuance of Euro bonds demonstrates international investors' confidence in the strong resilience and vitality of the Chinese economy, and once again demonstrates China's commitment to further promoting financial market opening and strengthening connectivity with the international financial market. Against the backdrop of increasing overseas financing demand for Chinese enterprises, the issuance of foreign currency sovereign bonds is also expected to provide a reference benchmark for the financing pricing of Chinese enterprises. Huang Jian stated that as Chinese enterprises enter the stage of deepening their overseas operations, their demand for cross-border financing is becoming increasingly urgent. The yield curve of sovereign bonds will become the core reference for Chinese enterprises to issue bonds overseas, which will help reduce their financing costs and uncertainties. In the future, with the deepening synergy between sovereign bonds and overseas financing of enterprises, the international influence of China's financial market will be synchronized with the global competitiveness of Chinese enterprises. (New Society)