Firm Advises on US$600 Million Private Equity Bond Issuances by Astrea V Pte. Ltd.

Latham & Watkins represented the joint lead managers and underwriters in connection with the issuance of three classes of private equity bonds by Astrea V Pte. Ltd (as “Issuer”) on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST). 

The investment grade offerings consisted of US$315 million of A-1 bonds with a coupon value of 3.85% listed on the SGX-ST, US$230 million of A-2 bonds with a coupon value of 4.5% and US$140 million of Class B bonds with a coupon value of 5.75%. The Class A-1 bonds were offered to both retail investors (US$180 million) and institutions and accredited investors (US$135 million), with the Class A-2 and B bonds only available to the latter. 

The issuances were all backed by cash flows from a portfolio of private equity funds. 

The bonds offered by Astrea V Pte. Ltd. constituted the fifth in a series of PE-backed securities offered by the Azalea Group, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. The Class A-1 Bonds offered by Astrea V Pte. Ltd. were the second private equity-backed bond issuance offered to retail investors in Singapore. 

The joint lead managers and underwriters were Credit Suisse, DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. 

The Latham & Watkins team was led by Singapore partners Timothy Hia, Farhana Sharmeen and Marcus Lee and London partner Sanjev Warna-kula-suriya, with Singapore associates Kelly Teoh, Wen Yi Tan, Marc Tan, Stacey Wong, Howe Min Wee, Liang Zhen Ong, and Sarah Soh.