Generally speaking, countries use international bonds to raise funds for the following five main purposes.
1, To make up for the fiscal deficit of the issuing government. For a government, in addition to domestic bonds, it can also raise funds by issuing international bonds as a supplement to domestic bonds to make up for the fiscal deficit.
2, To cover the deficit in the balance of payments of the issuing government. The funds raised by the issuance of international bonds are represented as capital flows on the balance of payments, which are capital income and thus contribute to the reduction of the balance of payments deficit. During the oil crisis of 1973-1975, many Western industrial countries used international bonds to cover the balance of payments deficit caused by the rise in oil prices.
3, Use to raise construction funds for large or mega projects. This is mainly issued by some international financial bonds or investment institutions formed by corporate groups.
4, Used to raise funds for some large industrial and commercial enterprises or multinational companies to increase their operating capital, so as to enhance their strength. Large enterprises need a large amount of capital support to strengthen their strength.
5, Used to raise funds for the activities of some major international financial organizations. The World Bank, for example, has issued foreign bonds on several occasions to raise large sums of money to implement its development plans.
Methods of issuing international bonds
The main ways of issuing international bonds are as follows.
(1) Public offering. This is a bond issued to the general public and can be listed on a stock exchange for public trading. A public bond issue must be rated by an internationally recognized debt rating agency. The borrower is required to make all aspects of its position publicly available. The borrower has to re-establish the debt credit rating with each bond issue.
(2) Private placement. It is a bond issued privately to a limited number of investors. This type of bond is issued for a shorter term and cannot be listed for public trading. However, private placement bonds are flexible and generally do not need to be rated by a credit rating agency, nor do they require the issuer to make itself known to the public, making the issuance process easier.
In addition, the issuance method can also be divided into.
(1) Direct issue. The issuer handles all the formalities of the issue, prepares the issue and sells the bonds directly to investors, and handles the remainder of the bonds itself. The issuer may also accept applications from investors within a specified period before the bonds are issued, print the bonds according to the number of applications and issue them directly, which prevents a surplus of bonds.
(2) Indirect issuance. The issuer commissions an intermediary to issue bonds, which is specifically divided into commissioned solicitation and off-take solicitation. Commissioning is entrusted to the sales group to market the bonds, and the bonds that are not sold out are returned to the issuer for disposal. An off-take offering is a sale by a **group, with the off-taker buying the bonds that are not sold out. In the international bond market, bonds are generally issued by way of off-take solicitation.
