Asia Pacific

Any debt bankers hoping for an early summer lull were left sorely disappointed on Tuesday, as a slew of Chinese issuers ensured a breakneck pace of issuance.

Indonesian consumer finance lender BFI Finance is seeking up to $150m from a three year syndicated loan, and is shaving the margin on the facility by 67bp.

Indian IPO hopefuls Shalby Hospitals and Matrimony.com have won approval to list from the country’s market regulator.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) is bringing back the lunchtime trading break following a rejig of its equities market structure.

Standard Chartered has beefed up its loan syndications team in Hong Kong, hiring two bankers, according to sources.

Something quite extraordinary has just been happening in Singapore. For the first time in several years, investors in the city-state have been able to punt on a local, multi-billion-dollar IPO, writes Philippe Espinasse in the latest Clawback.

Chinese state-owned Shandong Energy Group Co is taking orders for its inaugural international bond, while property developer Gemdale Corp is also in the market for a new debt outing.

The Saudi Aramco flotation will be one of the big ethical battles of next year in financial markets. Skirmishes have already begun, with the UK regulator’s bid to ease listing rules to attract Aramco and its like. UK investors should take a stand.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Tuesday completed a clean sweep of triple-A scores from the big three rating agencies, as S&P Global Ratings awarded the supranational its top score. AIIB will now focus on the next steps it must complete before entering the bond markets.

Kazakhstan’s independent oil and gas company Nostrum navigated a tricky price discovery process to print five year bonds at 8% on Monday after what has been a difficult few months for the company.

Indian solar company Azure Power Energy is readying investors for a dollar green bond, starting a roadshow this week.

Chong Hing Bank raised $360m on Monday from Asia’s first Basel III compliant tier two dollar bond of the year, benefiting from the rarity of the structure in the region’s dollar market.