Asia Pacific

Malaysia’s insurance sector looks poised for consolidation following a recent central bank directive that could kick off a flurry of IPOs.

China's State Council grants PBoC more power — Citic CLSA loses ECM syndicate head — UBS beefs up Asia DCM — StanChart hires two for loans — BAML debt banker makes exit — SGX brings back lunchtime break

Chinese state-owned Sinochem International Corp raised $300m from a five year bond on Tuesday, ending with a robust book of $2.6bn after wooing investors to its investment grade credentials.

The week started as they all do, with promises to exercise, to live healthily, to consume at least one vegetable that isn’t deep-fried. But although I awoke Monday with the will of Apollo, I soon found myself overwhelmed by Bacchus.

Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has pocketed MR571.2m ($133.3m) after selling a small piece of CIMB Group. A competitive bidding process for the mandate meant wall-crossing investors beforehand was impossible, leading to a slow but steady bookbuild.

After a dire first half of the year, the Panda bonds market had a busy week with five issuers either pricing their deals or revealing their intention to come to the market. While red chip real estate names still make up most of the pipeline, sovereign and local government issuers are starting to get a piece of the action, with Hungary and the Province of British Columbia (BC) leading the way.

South Korea’s Doosan Infracore secured $300m from the sale of a three year note on Wednesday, pricing inside its curve with the help of a guarantee from the Korea Development Bank.

Panda bonds are finally coming back to life after a dire first half. But although all the conditions are in place for an issuance boom, there is reason to doubt quite how high volumes will go.

China Life Insurance (Overseas) Company is marketing a 10 non call five subordinated bond on Thursday, capping the deal size at $250m.

Healthcare company Parkway Pantai opened books for its inaugural dollar bond on Thursday morning local time, collecting bids for a perpetual non call five year.

Waste-to-energy firm China Jinjiang Environment Holding Company (CJE) kicked off its debut dollar offering on Thursday morning.

Terms are out for a $1.5bn three part loan for commodities trader Trafigura, which invited banks for a roadshow earlier this week.