Asia Pacific

SAIC-GMAC Automotive Finance has made a rapid return to the China auto ABS market with its second deal of 2017. This time around, the firm opted for four tranches with its Rmb4bn ($580m) Rongteng 2017-2 Retail Auto Mortgage Loan Securitization.

Chinese digital map provider NavInfo has signed a €110m loan to fund its acquisition of a stake in a European company.

The Indian government is hearing pitches from 10 firms on Thursday for its sell down in Indian Oil Corp worth some Rp62bn ($956m).

Moody's downgraded China's credit rating on Wednesday morning. Short swaps were well bid and the curve flattened as an initial response. However, sources expect risk sentiment to weather the storm and the recent curve steepening trend to extend, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

Lyndon Hsu, the former Asia Pacific leveraged and acquisition finance head at HSBC, is heading to Standard Chartered to lead its levfin business.

Malaysia’s Axis Real Estate Investment Trust is planning a placement of new units that could raise some MR465.4m ($108.1m), said the company.

China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) opened books for a senior perpetual non call five bond on Wednesday morning, hitting the market soon after Moody’s downgraded the country’s rating.

The Republic of Indonesia released further guidance for its four-tranche yen transaction on Wednesday, with pricing expected in a week. The Samurai bond comes around the time the sovereign regained its investment grade status from the last of the three major ratings agencies

The upcoming Bond Connect could open up more hedging tools beyond FX for investors in RMB-denominated assets. However, experts warn the additional scheme will create fresh issues for investors that have already accessed China via older systems — unless the regulators take further harmonisation steps.

Market participants are preparing for a July 1 launch of the Bond Connect, with details slowly emerging on the scheme’s features. Meanwhile, banks are also expecting a June 25 announcement on which institutions will act as Bond Connect market makers, GlobalRMB has learned.

Chinese loan banks are appearing in more and more emerging market loan deals this year, as they race towards the loan market big league, but while their hunger for market share is evident, they're still taking a conservative approach.

International Bank of Azerbaijan has asked investors to agree to a restructuring of its balance sheet that will see the exchange of its outstanding bonds for new sovereign debt, and a limited amount of new IBA debt. IBA has also said that it must transfer a fourth tranche of bad assets to the Bank of Aqrarkredit to restore its viability.