Asean

China’s FX reserves rise for the fourth consecutive month in May, a Chinese securities regulator says the country will start allowing foreign investors to trade commodities futures onshore, and Ford Motor’s onshore financial arm issues RMB-denominated bonds.

AL Learning, an education company backed by private equity firm Advent International, has approached banks for a S$178m ($128.8m) loan through three mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

HRnetGroup priced its S$174m ($126m) Singapore IPO at the top of the indicative range on Thursday as investors bought into its “phenomenal entrepreneur story”, said bankers.

Singapore IPOs are heating up as NetLink Trust began drumming up interest on Tuesday for a $1.5bn IPO, set to be one of the country’s largest this year, with AEP Reit expected to follow soon.

Singapore’s HRnetGroup is set to price its IPO at the top of guidance after investors from all walks of life turned up for a piece of the S$174m ($126.0m) float, according to sources close to the deal.

Deutsche Bank has made changes to its Asia loan syndications team, promoting Birendra Baid to head up the division, succeeding Amit Khattar who is taking up a broader role.

United Overseas Bank is understood to have hired a former Standard Chartered banker as a senior director, corporate finance, within investment banking.

Malaysia’s CIMB Group has sold half of its international brokerage operations to China Galaxy Securities Co, formalising a plan set out last year.

Malaysian lenders RHB Bank and AMMB Holdings (AmBank Group) have entered into an exclusivity agreement for a potential merger.

Just as the country’s prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, met with Donald Trump on a US tour, Vietnam’s equity capital markets were repeatedly in the news over the last few weeks, with a flurry of IPOs and new listings, heralding that issuers there may finally be coming of age, writes columnist Philippe Espinasse.

The US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an order filing and settling charges against David Liew for spoofing, attempted manipulation and manipulation in the gold and silver futures markets.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is inviting the public to comment on some proposed changes to rubber derivatives on its commodity platform, the Singapore Commodity Exchange (SICOM).