City of Lugano - 100M CHF 2 Token

Overview

The city of Lugano, Switzerland, launched a 10-year CHF digitally-native bond with a total issue volume of CHF 100 million and a maturity in 2034. This is the second tokenized bond issuance by the City of Lugano, following their January 2023 CHF 100M dual-listed issuance. The bond is being issued on the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) based SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) and can be held in both Central Securities Depositories of SDX and of SIX (SIX SIS). In addition, as a dual listed bond, this instrument will be listed and tradeable at both SIX Digital Exchange and SIX Swiss Exchange.

Issuer(s): City of Lugano
Lead Manager: Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB)
Date: 2/5/2024
Country/Jurisdiction: Switzerland
Size (Native Currency): 100M CHF
Size (USD): $114M
Length: 10 Years
Coupon (30/360, ann.): 1.415%
Payment Date: 3/7/2024
Maturity Date: 3/7/2034

Settlement uses the Swiss franc wholesale CBDC as part of the Project Helvetia III central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. Helvetia is a limited time intitiative allowing the use of the CBDC through to June 2024.

ZKB’s book was filled after only 17 minutes, reflecting the strong interest of investors in participating in this new digital bond issue of the City of Lugano, despite the aggressive price tag. The deal was mainly supported by asset managers (49.7%), followed by banks (22.8%), insurance companies (18.6%), pension funds (6%), and Treasuries (3%).