18 February 2010

Rachel Evans - ALP

High yield bonds in Asia are getting a makeover with extra covenants more typical to loans. As Chandra Asri’s $230 million bond last week showed, investors want credit enhancement and won’t buy unless they get it.

Chandra Asri approached the market twice in 2009 but decided to rethink the structure of its five-year note after a frosty reception from potential investors. As well as standard debt-incurrence covenants, Chandra Asri added maintenance-style covenants to the documents, and amortisation.

The full version of this story is available at www.iflr.com.