Asia Pacific

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co looks likely to drop its IPO plans and instead merge with Max Life Insurance Co, finding an opportunity for a backdoor listing.

The People’s Bank of China put a new idea in front of market watchers this week – Chinese depositary receipts. While the plan is far from concrete and there are few assurances it will take off, listings of foreign companies on the Mainland would be a historic, and tantalising, prospect. John Loh reports.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) has expanded a pilot renminbi conversion scheme to all non-financial companies, allowing them to repatriate offshore bond proceeds. This will help reduce confusion over different rules from different regulators and boost direct offshore bond issuance, said market participants.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission is improving its oversight of the city’s IPO process under proposed new rules that will give it earlier and more direct input on listing policy.

The Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX) and Thomson Reuters (TR) launched on June 23 a new series of indices to track movements of the RMB against a basket of currencies.

China’s non-performing loans securitization market is quickly taking shape with China Merchants Bank set to launch the asset class’s third transaction following its restart last month. And the upcoming trade features a new type of underlying assets – micro loans.

Singapore sovereign investment arm Temasek Holdings executed a landmark transaction this week with its $1.1bn Astrea III securitization backed by cashflows generated by private equity funds. But despite the rarity of the deal and the difficulty in coming up with a price gauge, Temasek managed to expand the appeal of the product to a more diversified investor base, writes Rev Hui.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have been investing in RMB assets ahead of the currency’s introduction into the IMF special drawing rights (SDR) basket of currency in October 2016, the two institutions said this week.

A $12.7bn Asia-focused loan for China National Chemical Corp’s acquisition of Swiss firm Syngenta is expected to enter the second phase of syndication as early as next week.

The Mutual Recognition of Funds (MRF) scheme has had a relatively slow start, but Chinese regulators are said to be looking at Luxembourg to expand the scope of the progamme, GlobalRMB has learned. But difficulties abound in bringing the project to reality.

Seven banks are set to pitch for lead roles in the Indian government’s sell-down of Oil India, which could add Rp19.7bn ($291.7m) to the state’s coffers based on the company’s market capitalisation.

China's GF Securities, which made its debut in the offshore syndicated loan market in 2014, is in talks with seven lenders for a fresh borrowing.