Asean

The Hong Kong government this week made its pitch to be the link between Asean countries and China under the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative. The city should leverage its “super-connector” role to become the Asean trade centre on the OBOR map, said So Kam Leung, Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of Hong Kong at the Hong Kong-Asean Summit on September 14.

Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) is considering increasing the size of its $200m three year fundraising, after gathering commitments from 15-16 banks in syndication.

Indonesia's Mitra Pinasthika Mustika Finance has tasted success with its maiden outing in the offshore syndicated loan market, increasing its deal to $150m and establishing relationships with lenders across Asia.

Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) is understood to have increased the size of its borrowing to $200m — double the launch size.

South Korea's Hotel Lotte has appointed one domestic and two global banks to manage its 2016 IPO.

VietinBank, one of the four largest state-owned commercial lenders in Vietnam, has seen commitments come in during general syndication for a $100m three year facility.

Formosa Plastics Group is holding talks with 10 to 15 lenders for a dual tranche fundraising of $2.5bn, with banks asked to submit their pricing thoughts for the loan.

In this round-up, Chinese premier Li Keqiang said RMB internationalisation to continue, South Korea's RMB deposits halving in a few months, HKMA revamps its RMB liquidity facility, Singapore Exchange and Moscow Exchange see surging RMB trade volumes, Shanghai Gold Exchange expands its list of assets that can be used as collateral for trading to A-shares and foreign currencies, and Deutsche Bank joins OTC Clear as a clearing member.

Intercontinental Exchange expects to launch its ICE Futures Singapore and ICE Clear Singapore platforms on November 17 with five new contracts.

Asia’s dollar bond market finally sprang to life this week with a trio of investment grade names successfully pricing deals. Participants are now hoping that the market is open for business, but lingering volatility means trades will come with a bigger price tag, write Narae Kim and Rashmi Kumar.

Axis Bank has begun sounding out lenders for a $274m loan related to Indian pharmaceutical firm Strides Arcolab's recent acquisition in Australia.

Philippines’ Petron Corp, which recently amended covenants on a 2014 borrowing, has hit the market for a $550m refinancing that was funded in July.