On 6 December 2022, Lianhe Ratings Global Limited (“Lianhe Global”) participated in the “4rd China Fixed Income Summit” organized by FinanceAsia. In this in-person event, Dr. Stan Ho, the Chief Executive Officer of Lianhe Global, participated in a one-on-one Q&A session on “Deep dive – China’s offshore bond market: Review of 2022 and outlook for 2023″, moderated by Ms. Sara Velezmoro, a senior reporter at CorporateTreasurer and FinanceAsia. This in-person event attracted 147 experienced investors and market participants.
As a representative from the largest Chinese offshore credit rating agency, Dr. Stan Ho shared that the offshore financing pricing had no longer been competitive for issuers compared to the onshore market due to the higher USD interest rate. He believed that the Chinese property sector is at the bottom, due to the very weak confidence from homebuyers and the low liquidity in the refinancing market. Some tangible measures have been introduced by the Chinese government but it would still take a while for the sector to recover. He expected that in 2023, the high-quality state-owned enterprises, local investment and development companies and financial institutions would continue to drive the offshore bond issuance. Credit polarization and consolidation would remain in the LIDC sector. Towards the end of the fireside chat, Dr. Ho also answered a few live questions from the audiences, including the role of a rating agency in the China’s bond market, and the best practices for assessing the credit profile of offshore bond issuers, etc.