Asia Pacific

A slew of Chinese firms are making their debuts in the offshore loan market, with the pricing on offer reflecting a borrower base that is increasingly confident and savvy when negotiating terms with lenders, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

The $1.5bn Hong Kong IPO of Chinese insurtech firm ZhongAn Online Property and Casualty Insurance Co is set to be a splashy affair, with the punchy valuations on offer stirring debate among ECM bankers. But the leads are already predicting a successful outcome. John Loh and Jonathan Breen report.

Mapletree Logistics Trust sealed an accelerated bookbuild at the top of guidance on Wednesday, raising S$353.5m ($261.8m) from the first step of a two-pronged equity raise to fund the acquisition of a Hong Kong warehouse.

Natixis has named Desmond Tang as head of financial sponsors coverage for Asia Pacific, a newly created position as the bank sets up a financial sponsors coverage department for the region.

Being a senior banker means a lot of boozy client lunches and non-stop travel in business class. But of course, before climbing up the banking ladder, we all have to go through the grind.

RYB Education’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange is off to a strong start, with the $140m deal covered on the first day of bookbuilding.

Bank of China Hong Kong has sold its second Panda bond, raising a staggering Rmb9bn ($1.37bn) from a one year note. The transaction was the largest Panda sold in the interbank bond market, and caught the attention of foreign investors, which made 50% of all bids.

Qatar National Bank has secured $630m with a structured Formosa bond to prove it is still able to access funding despite the sensitives surrounding the Qatar crisis.

Harvest Operations Corp, a Canadian oil and gas company, began marketing a dollar bullet on Thursday that is backed by its parent, Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).

Wynn Macau raised $1.35bn from the bond market on Wednesday, finding support from both Asian and US investors thanks to a turnaround story in the Macau gaming industry and the issuer’s improved financials.

CSI Properties printed a $200m bond on Wednesday for refinancing purposes. The leads were not short on comparables given that several of the issuer’s developer peers have sealed similar transactions so far in 2017.

South Korea’s Shinhan Bank braved the dollar market on Wednesday for the second time this year, hoping to secure a new Basel III tier two dollar bond while North Korea-related volatility looked quiet.