Asia Pacific

BNP Paribas’s head of Asia Pacific investment banking will leave later this year, and the bank has appointed two bankers to replace him as co-heads.

ANZ has made a new hire to its loan syndications team in Australia. The move comes close on the heels of high level changes in the department.

Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby Group is planning to spin off and list its plantation and property businesses, while retaining its trading and logistics operations, in an effort to create three pure play arms.

JQ Pictures Holdings, the firm behind film star Jackie Chan’s latest movie, is vying for an IPO of around $100m in Hong Kong, according to a banker close to the deal.

Tsinghua Unigroup, part of Chinese state-owned Tsinghua Holdings, is considering increasing the size of its $300m debut syndicated loan after commitments of nearly double the amount poured in.

China Opportunity International is pursuing a $620m secured note, backed by a basket of onshore renminbi denominated bonds.

In this round-up, People’s Bank of China defends its use of foreign exchange (FX) reserves to preserve stability in the currency markets, two new entities are added to the RMB qualified institutional investors (RQFII) programme, and Hungary’s central bank signs an agreement to expand access to the Chinese capital markets. Plus, a recap of our coverage this week.

Central American development bank Cabei began its funding for 2017 by issuing more than $100m-equivalent in niche currencies, the bank’s head of capital and financial markets told GlobalCapital.

Electricité de France returned to the yen bond market in style last Friday, as it printed a four-tranche deal that included the longest ever Samurai note and the market’s first green bonds.

Andy Jones, the chief executive of Asia Pacific for Barclays, is returning to London after more than 10 years in the region.

France’s €7bn green OAT is a cert for the awards ceremonies. But are investors in it really helping the environment?

Few Indian IPOs can boast of having $6.4bn in excess demand, but BSE is one of them. The Bombay stock exchange operator completed bookbuilding for its Rp12.4bn ($182m) float this week, an extraordinary end to a sale first mooted over a decade ago. The pressure is now on its larger rival to do just as well, writes John Loh.