Asean

Private banks have been under sustained pressure to provide more transparency on the work they carry out for their client base in recent years. In Asia, where wealth is growing at the fastest rate globally, local scandals are combining with global regulation to create a thorny environment for the industry. Peter McGill reports.

Royal Industries Indonesia rattled the loans market last week when it failed to pay the first principal instalment on a $380m deal signed in June 2015. The incident has caused consternation among participating banks, with many being quick to blame the bookrunners on the trade. But this should be a wake-up call to lenders, who need to re-examine their internal approval procedures.

Sime Darby is planning an overnight share sale that could raise up to MR2.38bn ($595.85m) as the Malaysian property to palm oil conglomerate looks to pare down its debt load.

In a country where bank borrowing forms a large part of infrastructure project financing, much needs to be done to make Indonesia’s local currency bond market the go-to place for project developers. With no first mover advantage and costs and documentation proving tricky, there is plenty holding back issuers from selling Indonesia’s first rupiah infrastructure bond. Asiamoney talked to a group of leading market participants about the challenges and potential of the southeast Asian country’s long-term project financing bond market.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Baltic Exchange have agreed terms for a recommended share offer as the Asian company looks to proceed with a proposed acquisition.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) has opened an online information service to educate private companies on the benefits of listing, according to a document from the bourse.

DBS Group Holdings has hired five firms to prepare its maiden dollar-denominated additional tier one bank capital offering.

Singapore-based auto leasing company Ethoz Group is gauging appetite for a syndicated loan of up to S$120m ($89m).

Oil India is understood to have zeroed in on three banks to arrange new debt, following a request for proposals for a $650m loan with a $200m greenshoe option.

Electricite du Laos Generation Public Company (EDL Gen) is looking to sell a $300m bond in Thailand late next week, and has mandated two banks to lead the deal.

CME Group has reported the first trading of its US dollar Malaysian crude palm oil futures contracts it launched last month.

Agro-industrial company Royal Industries Indonesia has failed to pay the first principal instalment on a $380m loan borrowed in June 2015. Although the incident was driven by circumstances unique to the borrower, market observers reckoned banks would now be more wary of lending to smaller, privately-held firms from the country. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.