Wiwynn’s USD 2bn convertible bond offer is simply too large in size, market participants said, pointing to other attractive opportunities in the market.

The Taiwanese cloud IT infrastructure provider for hyperscale data centers launched Wednesday (25 March) the equity-linked bond carrying one- and three-year puts with a five-year maturity, at zero coupon/yield, and a 14%-20% premium over the day’s close of TWD 3,760 (USD 118).

Arranged by JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, the deal comes a day after the island’s chipmaker Winbond sold a USD 750m note amid no issuances elsewhere in Asia. This news service flagged the deal as early as October 2025.

“A lot of Taiwanese deals look optically very cheap, but how to monetize the cheapness is a different story,” said a participant.

He said the one-year put is obviously a plus for the sale. But investors would find Winbond’s paper and Wiwynn’s existing 2029 convertible bond more attractive, he added.

The old one is shorter, with a higher parity, making it a more defensive play, he said.

Winbond’s note traded around 104 late Asian session, said a second participant. Wiwynn’s USD 600m existing tranche was spotted around 125.82, based on Dealogic.

The second participant noted that even at a 50% delta, the offer still comes down to six to 10 days worth of volume.

Even Winbond – whose offer was widely considered as cheap as reported by this news service – was “a flip of coin” with what’s going on in the Middle East, said the second participant.

“This one is not even attractive,” he said. “There were a lot of pushbacks from investors concerned about the offering size.”

Wiwynn, at a USD 21bn market capitalization, is among a handful of Taiwanese companies that have been approved by the island’s regulator since late last year to sell CBs.

“There are few other pre-approved Taiwanese deals that have been in the pipeline for a few months, and we expect also to come through soon,” said Ivan Nikolov, head of convertible bonds at Fisch Asset Management. “With most of the companies related to the AI/semiconductor spending wave, investors have plenty of opportunity to be selective both in terms of company fundamentals and CB valuation/technicals.”

According to a third participant, the banks wall crossed around 10 accounts for the bond to be covered at launch, though the conversations involved “liquidity guys” mostly.

Timing wise, the deal is surely opportunistic, said the first participant.

The deal, issued at 100.25 including a brokerage fee, was indicated at 100-100.25 in the grey market, said a fourth participant.

“Valuation wise it’s reasonable, not expensive at all at the best end,” the fourth participant said. “Just that with most jumbo deals, you can’t get away with just being reasonable, you need to give people some value.”

When it comes to Taiwanese offers as an asset class, he said it is challenging for investors to really make money.

“You have to do a lot of hedging,” the fourth participant said. “People who play Taiwanese CBs need to feel the pain for the asset class as a whole to be more disciplined.”

The offer is around 55% asset swapped, he added.

The deal was first approved by Taiwan’s Securities and Futures Bureau on 22 December. The approval was extended for another three months on 19 March, according to Wiwynn’s exchange filing.

The company could not be reached by phone after business hours, and has not responded to an email request for comments.