China to rollover bonds backing sovereign funds

The People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance plan to roll over $89 billion worth of government bonds coming due in August that were used to help set up the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, according to people familiar with the matter. China’s Finance Ministry issued about 1.55 trillion yuan of notes in 2007 and used the proceeds to buy an equivalent amount of foreign-exchange reserves from the central bank to set up China Investment Corp. The 600 billion yuan ($89 billion) of such securities coming due in August were sold to Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., and then in turn bought by the PBOC. The indirect maneuver was because the central bank isn’t allowed to buy government debt directly. The bonds will be repriced through the operations, which will be arranged in mid- or late-August, sources told Bloomberg. Unlike the previous arrangement, the debt may be reissued to multiple banks that are primary bond market dealers.