China prepares sale of $2 billion in US-dollar bonds

Issue would be country's biggest-ever US-dollar bond sale and its first since 2004

China is laying the groundwork for its first sale of U.S.-dollar sovereign bonds in more than a decade, a move toward expanding its ties with global investors as its economy improves.

The government is preparing to sell $2 billion in bonds this month, and investment banks are pitching for a role in the deal, according to bankers in Hong Kong.

While the planned sale isn’t large and is mostly symbolic, it would be China’s biggest-ever U.S.-dollar bond sale and its first since October 2004, when the country raised a total of about $1.7 billion from selling dollar- and euro-denominated bonds that matured