Asia Pacific

The former head of structured finance, commercial real estate and corporate advisory at Hang Seng Bank has resurfaced at First Gulf Bank.

Eco World International is close to sealing a deal to bring in GuocoLand Malaysia as both a cornerstone and strategic investor in its $500m Malaysia IPO, said bankers on the trade.

The US has finally engaged with the internationalisation of the renminbi after years of stubbornly ignoring the currency’s rise. Market participants have welcomed the Rmb617m ($94.15m) worth of instruments issued by the New York branches of Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), but say the developments are long overdue. Rev Hui reports.

Aircraft leasing firm BOC Aviation has raised HK$8.7bn ($1.1bn) from its IPO after a flood of orders from institutional and Hong Kong retail investors.

Indonesian power producer Cikarang Listrindo is wrapping up the largest IPO in Indonesia in nearly five years this week. The country’s equity capital markets have been quiet this year, but that could be changing as Cikarang shows there is a strong level interest in the country from international investors. Jonathan Breen reports.

Indonesian medical testing firm Prodia has named a pair of bulge brackets and a local firm to run its listing, which it plans to launch this year.

Thailand’s Berli Jucker is planning to raise up to Bt214bn ($6.0bn) by issuing fresh equity and selling new bonds, in a bid to pay off debt used for its acquisition of hypermarket operator Big C Supercenter, according to a statement on Thursday.

China Huarong Asset Management and Midea Group are out with their respective dollar offerings while France’s BPCE is attracting bids for a Singapore dollar-denominated Basel III tier two.

The RMB lost ground against other global currencies in April 2016, dropping from the fifth to the sixth most used payment currency, according to the latest Swift data. Meanwhile, Swift has seen usage of its platform for RMB securities settlement surge as the Chinese bond market opens to foreign investors.

China attempted to position its upcoming offshore renminbi sovereign bond as a sign that markets have full confidence in the country’s economy at a launch for the deal at a ceremony in London today.

JG Summit is out with the first post-national election accelerated bookbuild of size in the Philippines, with the sell-down expected to net up to Ps10.29bn ($220.53m) for a shareholder.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) said it has entered into exclusive discussions with the Baltic Exchange for a possible cash offer for 100% of the shipping-based bourse.