Asean

Is pricing in the Asian loan syndications market finally bottoming out? All the signs for an uptick in margins this year are there, writes Pan Yue.

Bank of the Lao PDR is taking commitments for a $100m four year borrowing in general syndication, offering lenders terms that are identical to its last offshore facility from 2015.

Malaysia's securities regulator has upheld its decision to penalise those involved in the listing scandal of Lotte Chemical Titan after dismissing the review applications.

The Malaysian government has filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs for its alleged complicity in 1MDB and is seeking fines of over $3bn in a bid to recover assets from one of the world’s worst financial scandals.

Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (CEReit) has wrapped up a well-oversubscribed rights issue, raising €224.1m to fund the acquisition of various properties across Europe.

Philippine Savings Bank wants to raise Ps8bn ($150.84m) from a rights issue early next year, fixing the price of the offering at Ps56 apiece.

In this round-up, total social financing (TSF) rebounded in November, auto sales plummeted for the fifth consecutive month, and Standard Chartered’s renminbi globalisation index (RGI) fell for the first time in six months.

Goldman Sachs International conducted business with Lars Windhorst, the colourful German financier, despite warnings from its compliance department that he was a high risk counterparty.

Citi has appointed a new head of Thailand corporate and investment banking (CIB), hiring a senior banker from HSBC.

Five countries in Asia are due to hold general elections in 2019, meaning uncertainty for capital markets is likely to be commonplace. With markets already wobbling under global pressures, surprise election results could have catastrophic effects. Bankers and investors should be prepared for a bumpy ride.

In part three of our results announcements, we reveal the winning bond deals across a variety of categories. In addition, we also name the Best G3 Bond House, Best Local Currency Bond House, Best High Yield Bond House and the debut winner of the Best House for SRI Financing.

Nicholas Chia has left OCBC to join CLSA as the Citic Securities-owned brokerage looks to build out its southeast Asia equity capital markets franchise.