Wednesday, July 27, 2011

iBond allocation

The Hong Kong government has formally announced the results of the subscription and allocation of the iBonds .

As expected, this was largely a retail focused offering - the average subscription value was about HK$84,000. Given the allocation procedure for this offer (which is different from other public offers), substantial scaling down of larger applications was to be expected with either 44 or 45 bonds (HK$440,000 - 450,000) being the largest allocations.

The general lack of interest from larger (and presumably more sophisticated) investors is understandable - equities offer considerably more upside. However, for those who want or need to have an allocation to HKD cash/near cash/short term bonds, the iBonds represent a better deal than anything else which is available. For my part, I will happy to have part of my cash allocation in iBonds instead of bank deposits.

No comments: