Asia Pacific

Malaysia-listed Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) is merging with sister firm Iskandar Waterfront City (IWC) in a MR761.8m ($170.8m) transaction to be funded by debt and equity.

Singapore-listed Ascott Residence Trust launched a fully underwritten renounceable rights issue this week, as OUE Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust raised funds via an overnight share sale.

The renminbi continues to come under pressure, in part as a result of the dollar's continued upward trajectory. But while the Chinese currency is treated with suspicion and even enmity by some stateside, economist say their arguments miss the bigger picture.

OUE Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust bagged S$150m ($106.3m) in an overnight share sale on Wednesday, fully exercising the increase option.

Chinese high yield names KWG Property Holding and Kangde Xin Composite Material Group Co, as well as unrated Lenovo Group, launched dollar deals on Thursday morning — just one day after Indian high yield issuer Eros International pulled its bond because of weak demand.

Renminbi depreciation has been one of the market's most talked about issues with many predicting the trend to continue well into 2017. But ICBC Asia’s co-head of global markets Jimmy Jim told GlobalRMB that such fears are overblown and he believes the renminbi is maturing into a two-way fluctuating currency.

Minsheng Education Group Co rapidly covered books for its Hong Kong IPO, which was launched on Wednesday and is expected to raise up to HK$1.5bn ($195.7m), according to a source close to the deal.

Eros International failed to price its new dollar bond on Tuesday, as the high yield market stuttered and investors pushed back on pricing for the Indian film maker’s international debut.

Citi and Bloomberg Barclays may have taken the leap by moving to include Chinese bonds in their indices, but index providers and investors remain cautious on the market impact of the decisions.

Lotte Chemical Titan, which is seeking to raise more than $1bn via an IPO in Malaysia, has added three banks to its syndicate at the bookrunner level.

Export-Import Bank of China made a strong comeback to the Asia debt market on Tuesday with a $3bn equivalent three tranche dual-currency Reg S deal. Its three year euro bond achieved the lowest spread in the currency from a Chinese name this year.

Chile's Itaú CorpBanca has rolled out a $465m fundraising into syndication, with a number of invitations going to lenders in Asia.