StanChart sees strong demand in securities sale

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Standard Chartered (STAN.L) expects strong demand for its sale of benchmark-sized dollar-denominated preference shares, and is sticking to its provided guidance, a source close to the deal said on Thursday.

StanChart has received more than $1 billion (514 million pounds) in orders from over 100 accounts for the sale of its hybrid securities, and expects to price the transaction later this week, said the source, who is involved in the deal but is not authorised to talk publicly about the transaction.

The Asia-focused lender said it is maintaining its coupon guidance at around 8.5 percent, unchanged from the level it gave investors on Wednesday.

"Book building is off to a very strong start," the source said.

The issue is expected to be rated BBB-plus by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service, below StanChart's ratings of A and A3 by the two agencies.

Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX), Merrill Lynch MER.N, Standard Chartered and UBS (UBSN.VX) are the lead managers for the sale.

(Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)