Asia Pacific

The Province of British Columbia will dip into the Masala bond market for the first time with a January 2020 bond on Thursday.

The World Bank broke a 30 year silence in special drawing rights (SDR) bonds with the sale of the SDR500m ($700m) three year note in China on Wednesday. While the Mulan bond is widely seen as a symbolic gesture to promote the internationalisation of the renminbi, market participants said it is more than just that in spite of the relatively narrow investor base.

DBS Bank sealed a landmark $750m additional tier one (AT1) bank capital deal on Tuesday, marking not just its first dollar AT1 but also the first from a Singaporean lender. Despite the lowest ever coupon globally for this asset class, investors feasted on the credit, reports Addison Gong.

ING Bank has obtained a securities branch license from the Financial Services Commission of South Korea, giving it the ability to broker debt capital market and alternative investment deals for clients.

NagaCorp, which operates the only licensed casino in Cambodia's capital, has launched a top-up placement that could raise up to HK$832m ($107m), ending a three year absence from the equity market.

JP Morgan has lost Singapore-based Chetan Singh to UK insurer Aviva, where he will lead mergers and acquisitions globally.

Just a day after DBS sealed a $750m deal from a Basel III compliant additional tier one note, the bank capital market has seen some fresh action with United Overseas Bank eyeing a tier two offering.

China has pushed hard for a greater role for the IMF special drawing rights (SDR) since the global financial crisis. But while the SDR may help the renminbi internationalisation strategy it will not help overthrow the dollar as the de facto world currency, according to Benjamin Cohen, professor of international political economy at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Royal Industries Indonesia, which failed to pay the first principal instalment of a loan borrowed in June 2015, has asked banks for additional funds to help resolve its liquidity problem.

Two Chinese high yield names made their mark on Tuesday, with Road King Infrastructure bagging $500m and Haikou Meilan International Airport netting $200m from its first G3 bond offering.

Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL), which sent out a request for proposals for a $750m borrowing in July, is said to be planning to raise the money from three banks on a bilateral basis, as opposed to a syndication.

Chongqing Western Modern Logistics Industry Zone Development Construction raised $500m from bond investors on Tuesday, with generous initial price guidance allowing the issuer to tighten by as much as 30bp.