Asia Pacific

Asia’s green finance story is not just about China and India. Although the US has threatened to pull out of the Paris Agreement, southeast Asia has reiterated its commitment to sustainability. As Morgan Davis reports, that is beginning to be felt in its financial markets, where countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are exploring ways to foster green financing.

Kia Motors Corp has mandated banks for a new dollar deal, with a global roadshow kicking off in early October.

Macquarie Capital has appointed Justin Ocampo as a managing director and the head of its Philippines office.

Dubai healthcare group Aster DM Healthcare has signed a $295m facility with banks from the UAE and India despite its expansion plans in scandal-hit Qatar casting some concerns over the syndication.

Having made euro investors wait three years since its last deal, in 2014, Australian pallet and container provider Brambles finally returned to the single currency market on Tuesday, printing a deal with virtually no new issue premium.

No matter where in the world a European trading firm wants to find a counterparty, they will have to comply with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) from January 2018. And in Asia, that might cost them business, according to panellists at an International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) conference this week.

The international distribution arm of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar) is close to refinancing a $250m facility taken out in October last year while facing down a recent rating downgrade.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) issued a €500m five year covered bond on Thursday that was more oversubscribed than any previous Singaporean deal and priced inside fair value in what a lead manager described as ‘a one-way market’.

JD.com has rolled out its first international syndicated loan and the $500m deal has already attracted a lot of attention from banks. The Chinese e-commerce company is loss-making but lenders are enticed by the prospects of ancillary business and an expected improvement in its financial position after the recent spin-off of JD Finance, reports Shruti Chaturvedi.

A default from a Chinese local government financing vehicle (LGFV) is looking increasingly likely, showing how fragile the dollar debt market in the region can be. The risk is certainly there, but DCM bankers are sceptical it could cause a repricing in the offshore bond market, writes Addison Gong.

Geo Energy Resources found success on Wednesday with its second attempt to sell a debut dollar bond, after waiting two months for a receptive market window.

The worst nightmare for bankers is an absurdly demanding client. But throw in a teenage tantrum and things go from bad to worse.