OREANDA-NEWS. November 13, 2014. National piped gas operator China Oil and Gas Group is returning to the international bond market with a new offering, the proceeds of which the company intends to use for repaying certain existing loans.

In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, chairman and chief executive Xu Tie-lang said the pricing of the proposed US dollar-denominated notes issue will be determined through a book-building exercise to be conducted by Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan as joint global coordinators.

Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley will also serve as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the issue. It is expected that the three banks and the company, as well as subsidiary guarantors, will enter into the purchase agreement.

China Oil and Gas will seek a listing of the notes on the stock exchange. A confirmation of the eligibility for the listing of the notes has been received from the exchange.

The notes are expected to receive investment-grade ratings of “Ba1” by Moody’s Investors Services and “BB+” by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, the company’s filing said. None of the notes will be offered to the public in Hong Kong.

In April last year, China Oil and Gas conducted a successful USD350-million, five-year bond issue that helped broaden the company’s financing channels.

The company, with headquarters in Causeway Bay, provides natural gas to customers through its own natural gas branch pipelines and city-gas distribution networks. It also operates liquefied natural gas processing plants, transports and distributes liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas, builds and operates vehicle refueling stations, and designs and constructs natural gas pipelines.

As of June 30, it had business operations in 13 provinces and one autonomous region on the mainland.

China Oil and Gas Group acquired Baccalieu Energy, a Canadian oil and gas producer, for a reported consideration of CAD236 million in June. The deal enabled the company to enter the upstream oil and gas market segment in North America.