Temasek offers Singapore retail investors rare opportunity to buy its bonds

This is only the second time Temasek has offered bonds to retail investors here. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

SINGAPORE - Temasek launched a $350 million five-year bond sale on Monday (Nov 15), part of which will be available for purchase by retail investors in Singapore.

Singapore's investment company said it is offering a placement of $250 million of bonds to institutional, accredited and other specified investors.

The public offer of up to $100 million is for local retail investors and will remain open from Tuesday (Nov 16) to Nov 22.

This is only the second time Temasek has offered bonds to retail investors here. The last time it did so was in 2018.

The Temasek Bond guaranteed notes due 2026 will pay 1.8 per cent per annum in fixed interest rate, the firm said in an announcement on the Singapore Exchange website. The pricing was determined through an institutionally driven book-building process, it added.

Issued under wholly owned subsidiary Temasek Financial (IV)'s $5 billion Guaranteed Medium Term Note Programme, the bonds will be unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Temasek.

The proposed total offering of $350 million is also subject to an upsize option.

Temasek said the interest is payable at the end of every six-month period, and the bonds have a tenor of five years from the expected issue date of Nov 24, 2021.

Retail investors are allowed to make only one application for the public offer in multiples of $1,000, subject to a minimum subscription of $1,000.

Retail investors in Singapore will need their own individual Central Depository account to apply for the bonds. Central Provident Fund savings and Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) funds cannot be used to apply for them, although SRS funds can be used to buy them in the secondary market through stockbrokers or relevant banks.

Applications under the public offer are payable in full immediately, and must be made in Singapore through the ATMs and Internet banking websites of DBS Bank, POSB, OCBC and UOB, or via the banks' mobile banking apps except for OCBC's.

Temasek will take into account the investor demand based on applications received before deciding on the final allocation.

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