Asia Pacific

South Korea’s KT Corp is preparing for a dollar bond in the second half of the year, having selected four banks to work on the trade.

The race is on for India’s first insurance IPO as ICICI Prudential Life Insurance lines up banks for its up to $400m float.

Efforts to deepen RMB liquidity in offshore markets have struggled so far, despite the currency’s growing popularity for trade and investment purposes. Yet, it is clear that the success of the currency on a global scale will rely on deepening liquidity and the financial infrastructure that supports it.

Cemex Holdings Philippines has begun gauging investor interest in its IPO, which could raise up to $500m, sources close to the deal told GlobalCapital Asia.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange will introduce a volatility control mechanism come August, following in the footsteps of global bourses that have implemented circuit breakers.

Tsinghua University Science Park is planning to print what would be its inaugural dollar-denominated green bond, according to a source close to the matter.

Convertible investors in Europe gobbled up an unusually large deal on Wednesday from a Japanese issuer, Kansai Paint Co, which raised ¥100bn with a two tranche structure, of which one tranche appealed more to hedge funds and the other to outright investors.

After five months of silence, corporate issuers have returned to the Kangaroo bond market as pent up demand provides a ready home for paper.

The southeast Asian high yield market saw some long overdue activity this week, with Indonesia’s Sri Rejeki Isman raising $350m from a liability management exercise. With volatility and low commodities prices forcing high yield issuers from the region to stay away from the market this year, Sritex’s success has now flung open the door to new issuance, writes Narae Kim.

Indonesia’s Solusi Tunas Pratama is looking to replace its dollar liabilities with local currency borrowings in a bid to curb risks from FX volatility. The firm is just one of a list of borrowers considering a similar approach. But the change in tack has caused some concern among foreign lenders, which would struggle to compete with local banks. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

The Asia ex-Japan block trade market took flight this week as three overnight share sales priced on Wednesday, two of which were executed by Morgan Stanley and one by UBS.

Dalian Wanda Group has tied up financing totalling HK$30.78bn ($3.9bn) for a HK$34.5bn offer to take its property arm private.