Asia Pacific

UBS has appointed Damien Brosnan and Peihao Huang to the newly created positions of co-heads of ECM Solutions, Asia, effective immediately, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

ICBC Financial Leasing is on the road to meet investors ahead of plans to sell its first dollar bond of the year.

Samsung Biologics, which sent out a request for proposals for its South Korean IPO on April 29, is understood to have invited nine domestic and six international firms to submit bids.

In this round-up, Hong Kong RMB deposits shrank further in March, southbound usage of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect picked up, China's foreign exchange regulator granted four new RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) quotas in April, and Singapore Exchange launched trading of derivatives under the new MSCI China Free Index. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.

Sri Lanka’s finance minister, who has helped engineer a growth recovery, tells Emerging Markets that he is fed up with “pontificating” Western politicians telling him to adopt green policies that would end up adding costs for his citizens

China International Capital Corp (Hong Kong) is gearing up for its first international bond with plans to meet investors next week.

In a rare side-by-side appearance in a debate at the ADB annual meetings, the finance ministers of India and Pakistan sidestepped the normal hostile tone between the two Asian powers to outline how they will both surpass China with 7% annual growth.

Sri Lanka needs to overcome China-phobia by convincing people that it can develop a relationship with its larger neighbour that is now seen as over-reliant.

China’s push for an onshore CNH bond market is quickly taking shape with Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) mandating Bank of China (BoC) to arrange a sale. But the scheme’s biggest challenge is likely to be overcoming the market’s widespread scepticism. Carrie Hong and Rev Hui report.

Dollar loan volumes from India have risen 10% so far this year, with numbers driven mainly by fundraisings for large conglomerates and state-owned firms. This is despite a slump in overall activity in the rest of Asia. But the lukewarm response during syndication for some of the recently closed deals indicates a pushback on pricing from retail lenders, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Hong Kong-listed conglomerate Dah Chong Hong is readying a loan to back its acquisition of Li & Fung’s Asia consumer and healthcare distribution business.

Rating agency Fitch went against the norm last week when it publicly questioned the investment grade status given to Chinese online retailer JD.com by its peers. While commenting on rival deals tends to be a rarity in Asia, such an approach can only be good for the long-term development of capital markets.