China order books spark debate

摘要

A mounting debate over the extent of demand for Chinese credit has cast the spotlight on disclosure standards on international bond issues. While recent US dollar bonds from China's top state-owned companies appear to show that investors are growing less keen on Chinese risk, some bankers have blamed the lower subscription rates on stronger disclosure guidelines from the industry's trade association. In the past two weeks, Sinopec and ICBC received much smaller orders for their overseas financings than they did on similar issues a year ago, prompting concerns that investor demand, particularly from China, was ebbing.