Hong Kong’s dim sum bond market hits record with State Grid’s US$2.2bn deal
State Grid Corporation of China raised US$2.2 billion (14.9 billion yuan) in Hong Kong’s largest offshore yuan bond sale on record, drawing 193.8 billion yuan in orders.
Source: South China Morning Post · August 18, 2026 at 8:01 AM · AI-assisted report
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BEIJING, 18 AUGUST 2026 —
State Grid Corporation of China raised US$2.2 billion (14.9 billion yuan) in Hong Kong’s largest offshore yuan bond sale on record, drawing 193.8 billion yuan in orders.
Market Impact
Bank of China, joint global coordinator, said the 14.9 billion yuan issuance comprised three tranches: 3.9 billion yuan of five-year notes at 1.86%, 7 billion yuan of 10-year debt at 2.18% and 4 billion yuan of 20-year securities at 2.46%. Investor demand exceeded supply by more than 13 times.
The deal caps a record year for Hong Kong’s dim sum market. Nearly 500 billion yuan of offshore yuan bonds were sold in the first seven months of 2024, Bank of China reported. The lender underwrote over 100 billion yuan during the same period.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said annual dim sum issuance reached 1 trillion yuan in each of the past two years, with outstanding bonds at about 1.6 trillion yuan. Goldman Sachs reported dim sum sales rose more than 60% year on year in the first half, with borrowers increasingly tapping longer-dated debt at lower yields.
The expansion, which began in 2022, marks a shift from the yuan appreciation-driven boom of 2011-2014, Goldman said. The trend aligns with Beijing’s push to deepen cross-border use of the yuan and bond markets.
Overseas institutions held 3.21 trillion yuan of mainland China’s onshore interbank bonds at the end of July, equivalent to 1.8% of the market, according to the People’s Bank of China. More than two-thirds accessed via the Bond Connect programme.
Related: Beijing