Ningxia plans $1.5b overseas issue of bonds

The northwestern Ningxia Hui autonomous region plans to sell up to $1.5 billion worth of debt in China's first local government overseas bond issuance.

According to a filing by AVIC Capital Co with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday, the company's brokerage unit has been appointed coordinator and financial adviser for the issuance.

It said Ningxia may sell the debt as a sukuk, or dollar-denominated Islamic financial certificate - similar to a bond in Western finance that complies with sharia, Islamic religious law - with maturity of up to five years, although it added that the details are still subject to change