On March 17, China Aviation Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Air China”) announced that its 2022 public issuance of corporate bonds to professional investors (phase III) was being issued.
According to the issuance information, the total issuance scale of the current bonds does not exceed RMB 2 billion (including RMB 2 billion). After deducting the issuance expenses, RMB 1 billion is intended to be used to repay the due debts, and the rest is used to supplement the working capital of China Airlines and its subsidiaries.
The current bonds are divided into two varieties, of which the first one is 3-year and the second one is 5-year. The bookkeeping and filing range of the coupon rate of variety I is 2.50% – 3.50% (including the upper and lower limits), and the bookkeeping and filing range of the coupon rate of variety II is 2.90% – 3.90% (including the upper and lower limits). The final coupon rate will be determined by air China and the lead underwriter Gf Securities Co.Ltd(000776) in accordance with relevant national regulations.
Air China and the lead underwriter Gf Securities Co.Ltd(000776) made bookkeeping inquiry to offline professional investors on March 18 (t-1), and determined the final coupon rate of the bonds according to the inquiry results.
According to the disclosure of the issuance documents, as early as November 25, 2019, with the approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Air China was allowed to publicly issue corporate bonds with a total face value of no more than 16 billion yuan (including 16 billion yuan) to professional investors in China.
For the above quota, Air China adopts the method of issuing by stages. Among them, one issue will be issued in December 2019, with an amount of 3 billion yuan, and two issues will be issued in 2021, with a total scale of 5.3 billion yuan.
If the issuance is successful and in full, the total issuance scale of AVIC’s phase III bonds in 2022 will be 7.7 billion yuan.
This bond is the sixth issue under the same registration limit. If it is issued in full, the above 16 billion registration limit of Air China will be issued.
According to the issuing instrument, the value date of the bonds is March 22, 2022. The interest payment date of variety 1 is March 22 of each year from 2023 to 2025, and the interest payment date of variety 2 is March 22 of each year from 2023 to 2027; The principal payment date of variety I is March 22, 2025, and the principal payment date of variety II is March 22, 2027.
Air China group is one of the three major aviation groups in China directly under the SASAC of the State Council. Air China was founded in July 1988 with a registered capital of 15.5 billion yuan and a paid in capital of 16.415 billion yuan, of which the SASAC of the State Council holds 90.53% of its equity and the national Council of social security funds holds 9.47% of its equity.
By the end of September 2021, there were 8 secondary subsidiaries included in the consolidation scope of China Aviation Group, including one listed company Air China Limited(601111) ( Air China Limited(601111) . SH), and the group held 51.70% equity in total.
According to the disclosure of its issuance documents, in 2020 and the first three quarters of 2021, China Airlines received 200 million yuan and 1 billion yuan from the Ministry of finance respectively.
By the end of September 2021, the total consolidated assets of AVIC group were 317823 billion yuan, the owner’s equity was 95.167 billion yuan, the total liabilities were 187255 billion yuan, and the total short-term debt was 52.478 billion yuan. The group’s asset liability ratio increased from 58.21% in 2018 to 70.06% at the end of September 2021.
Due to the impact of covid-19 pneumonia, the operating performance of China aviation group was greatly impacted in 2020, and the total profit in 2020 was -14.682 billion yuan; From January to September 2021, Air China achieved an operating revenue of 65.671 billion yuan and a total profit of -11.468 billion yuan.
In this regard, at present, the main credit rating of China Airlines assessed by united credit is AAA, and the credit rating of this bond is AAA.
In the three fiscal years from 2018 to 2020, Air China achieved an average annual distributable profit of 751 million yuan. Air China promised that the final issuance scale of the bonds could meet the requirements that the average distributable profit in the last three years should not be less than 1.5 times the one-year interest of the bonds, so that the bonds could meet the conditions for listing.
