Aspial begins offer to swap three 2024, 2025 notes for new perpetuals

By Marisa Wong

Los Angeles, Oct. 17 – Singapore’s Aspial Corp. Ltd. initiated its offer to exchange three series of existing notes issued by Aspial and Aspial Treasury Pte. Ltd. for new Singapore dollar-denominated fixed-rate subordinated perpetual securities to be issued by Aspial, according to notices.

Aspial proposed the exchange offer in August, as previously reported. However, the exchange offer and the issuance of new perpetual securities under the company’s S$700 million multicurrency debt issuance program were subject to shareholder approval.

Aspial is offering to exchange any and all of the following existing notes for a like principal amount of new perpetual securities:

• S$50 million fixed-rate series 007 notes due March 2025 (ISIN: SGXF39054444) issued by Aspial;

• S$75 million 6.15% series 008 notes due January 2024 (ISIN: SGXF20337501) issued by Aspial Treasury and guaranteed by Aspial; and

• S$70 million 6% series 009 notes due July 2024 (ISIN: SGXF22368025) issued by Aspial Treasury and guaranteed by Aspial.

In addition to the par exchange consideration, holders will receive accrued interest in cash.

The exchange offer began at 9 p.m. ET on Oct. 16 and will expire at 10 p.m. ET on Oct. 30.

Tricor Barbinder Share Registration Services (+65 6236 3550/3555; is.corporateactions@sg.tricorglobal.com) is the exchange agent.

New securities

Aspial is planning to issue perpetual securities with an initial distribution rate of 6˝% that steps up to 6.7% three years from the issue date.

As previously announced, the distribution rate would then reset five years from the issue date and every five years after that. The reset distribution rate is five-year SORA-OIS plus an initial spread plus a step-up margin of 200 basis points. The initial spread was to be determined prior to the launch of the exchange offer.

The perpetual securities will be callable in whole on the first reset date or any distribution payment date after that.

The perpetual securities are expected to be issued on Nov. 7.

The company previously highlighted that given the upcoming maturity of the existing notes over the next two years, the proposed exchange offer would serve to refinance the existing notes through the issuance of perpetual securities, which would be redeemable only at the option of the company.

The proposed exchange offer would also minimize the need for separate refinancing exercises, which in turn would minimize legal costs and professional fees.

Finally, the proposed exchange offer is expected to improve the company’s overall leverage ratio.

Questions about the exchange offer should be directed to Aspial (+65 6840 7790; felix_lim@aspial.com).

Aspial is a Singapore-based company operating in jewelry retail, property development and financial services.

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