Asean

A slew of Chinese issuers are wooing dollar bond investors on Thursday, as Philippine company Petron Corp also competes for buy-side attention.

Philippine company International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) opened books for a fixed-for-life dollar perpetual bond on Wednesday, making it the first issuer to take advantage of the country’s ratings upgrade last month.

Thailand’s Kasikornbank prioritised price over size for its return to the bond market this week, selling a $400m deal at a level that forced some investors to stay away.

Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) has asked banks to submit bids for a €1bn financing to support its M&A activities, said a banker whose firm is in the race for the mandate.

United Overseas Bank in Singapore was able to price a seven year euro covered bond in line with Westpac on Tuesday. Although UOB was unable to match the pricing of DBS Bank, it achieved 'remarkable traction' with second and third tier investors across Europe.

Trans Media Corpora, the TV broadcasting arm of Indonesian conglomerate CT Corp, is due to launch a new borrowing into general syndication soon, according to two bankers working on the transaction.

Thailand’s Kasikornbank is in the market with a 5.5 year dollar bond, some 15 months after its last appearance in the offshore debt market

Vietnamese state-owned VietinBank is back in the loan market with a $100m fundraising, this time with one lender at the helm.

The pace of covered bond supply is expected to remain fast on Tuesday, with as many as three issuers mandating lead managers for benchmark deals.

Singapore’s Puma Energy Holdings began speaking with investors on Monday ahead of a new dollar bond issuance that will redeem its existing 2021s.

The People’s Bank of China announces new rules to promote cross-border RMB transactions, HSBC plans to launch a new service in Poland to capture business opportunities related to the Belt and Road Initiative, and Agricultural Bank of China obtained approvals for new branches in Southeast Asia.

China has relaxed access to the onshore renminbi (CNY) foreign exchange market for overseas banks based in Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Thailand, all countries that fall under the Belt and Road initiative, GlobalRMB has learned.