Asia Pacific

As the first half comes to an end, the ECM market appears concerned that Hong Kong has lost its title as the top IPO destination in the world, slipping behind China and the US. The drop may be disappointing but market watchers should not read too much into that. The city’s exchange is on much stronger footing this year when compared to 2016.

Indonesia has announced plans to meet investors in continental Europe next week ahead of a potential dual tranche euro and dollar bond placement.

The launch of a S$2.7bn ($1.95bn) IPO by NetLink Trust this week marks an important turning point in the fortunes of Singapore’s quiet equity capital market, with bankers hoping that more issuers may be tempted to take the plunge in the second half of 2017, write Aidan Gregory and Jonathan Breen.

A €179.4m loan to support Chinese company Aier Eye Hospital Group’s acquisition of Spanish firm Clinica Baviera has entered syndication with three banks at the helm. The deal is another example of Mainland firms’ eagerness to expand overseas, which is in turn giving the country’s lenders with similar ambitions a leg-up as they venture into relatively unexplored markets. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

Order book momentum for the first Australian conditional pass through (CPT) issued by Bank of Queensland (BoQ) was quick to build when the deal was finally launched on Thursday, owing to the “eye-catching” initial spread.

Haitong Securities filed a draft prospectus in Hong Kong on Wednesday for the spin off and listing of its leasing unit Haitong UniTrust. The IPO is expected to raise around $500m, according to a banker close to the deal.

Lotte Chemical Titan Holding, the Malaysian arm of South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, has finished bookbuilding for the largest Malaysian IPO since Astro Malaysia Holdings' listing in October 2012.

Fantasia Holdings Group returned to the high yield bond market for the second time this month, but was forced to pay heavily for a $300m deal.

High yield bond spreads widened out this week as investors suffered from indigestion after heavy supply from Chinese issuers. The buy-side is now more eager than ever for investment grade issuers to hit the market. Morgan Davis reports.

Kazakhstan’s Nostrum is planning a combined debt buy-back and new issue, and will meet investors from Monday and will be hoping to emulate the success of national oil champion KazMunayGas in April this year.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) and the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society (CGSE) committed to building a “major gold and commodities trading centre in Asia Pacific” on Thursday.

Standard Chartered’s head of capital markets solutions Lesi Zuo is leaving the bank for a job in fintech, according to sources.