China Merchants sells $500 mln in bonds-source

HONG KONG, June 6 (Reuters) - Port operator China Merchants Holdings (0144.HK) sold a total $500 million in five- and 10-year dollar bonds, a source involved in the deal said on Friday.

China Merchants sold $300 million in five-year bonds at 200 over midswaps, in line with guidance of around 200 basis points provided on Wednesday, said the source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to talk publicly about the transaction.

The ports operator also sold $200 million in 10-year bonds at 250 basis points over midswaps, at the top end of earlier guidance of 237.5-250 basis points.

Total orderbook reached around $725 million, with 60 percent of the demand for the five-year bond and the remainder for the 10-year tranche, according to an email sent to investors early on Friday.

China Merchants' proposed debt was rated BBB by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service, both eight notches below the top investment grade.

Merrill Lynch MER.N was the lead manager and sole bookrunner for the sale, while ING (ING.AS) was co-lead manager. (Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)