Richard Li's FWD Group is boosting its U.S. dollar bond sales as it buys up assets in South-east Asia as part of its rapid expansion plans in the region.
The Hong Kong billionaire's insurance group sold $1.66 billion in five offerings this year in its biggest annual sales, whereas it did zero issuance last year, data from Bloomberg revealed. Its parent PCGI Intermediate Holdings sold a $250 million five-year dollar bond last week to help fund FWD Group's deals and repay debt.
«The motivation behind FWD's active debt offerings is likely to fund its acquisitions,» said Steven Lam, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. The younger son of Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-Shing is making huge bets on South-east Asia - in July, FWD Group paid $3 billion for a life insurance business in Thailand and signed a $1.8 billion loan backing the acquisition.
The group had also considered purchasing Aviva plc's Singapore business.
