Asia Pacific

At the beginning of 2016, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) followed Europe’s central bank and took a dive into the world of negative interest rates. Bond yields have since tumbled and investors and regular borrowers in Japan’s domestic market have been forced to adapt to the new, alien environment. Though Samurai issuance volumes are down in the first half of the year, the world’s second largest bond market is evolving quickly and has proven itself to be both flexible and dynamic. GlobalCapital spoke to seven prominent international yen issuers and two banks about their experiences in the Samurai market this year.

China Securities Finance Co and Minsheng Education Group are looking to list in Hong Kong and filed draft prospectuses with the city’s exchange on Monday.

Shui On Development made its return to the international bond market on Monday after almost two years, bagging $250m from a new three year unrated offering.

China National BlueStar navigated a crowded primary market on Monday, netting $1.1bn from a dual trancher on the back of an impressive $4bn order book.

India has made great strides with the setting up of its first international financial services centre. The move is laudable, and most of the market feedback has been positive. But the authorities should not get complacent — a lot more needs to be done before the centre becomes the go-to destination for international capital market participants.

The Philippines’ largest lender BDO Unibank is planning a rights issue of up to Ps60bn ($1.2bn) in an attempt to boost its capital base.

Days after China made the landmark decision to appoint a US renminbi clearing bank, it has made yet another clear political statement by appointing Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Moscow as Russia’s clearing bank, with a bond market link also in the making.

Singapore Telecommunications raised $500m on Monday, a day when credit markets in Asia slumped. Nevertheless, the investment grade issuer managed to get away with offering no new issue premium on its bonds.

Mitsui & Co subsidiary MBK Healthcare has pocketed MR1.0bn ($249.7m) after offloading a chunk of its shares in IHH Healthcare, with the leads having to walk investors up from the bottom of the price range.

China Construction Bank Hong Kong, Fantasia Holdings Group and Jinan West City Investment and Development Group were out in full force in the dollar bond market on Tuesday.

Singapore-based auto leasing company Ethoz Group has attracted commitments equalling the base amount of its up to S$120m ($89m) loan, according to a source.

Natixis has created three new business lines for its Asia Pacific corporate and investment banking (CIB) business, putting Damien Cleris, Bruno le Saint and Raghu Narain in charge.