Asia Pacific

South Korea has been one of the most active Asian equity capital markets in 2016 with high expectations that IPO volumes this year will be its largest on record. The figures are reassuring, but the KRX appears hell bent on wooing southeast Asian issuers to its stock exchange. Focusing on its strengths instead would be far more fruitful.

British American Tobacco subsidiary Bentoel Internasional Investama is set to proceed with an up to Rph14tr ($1.1bn) rights issue, having won the go ahead from shareholders.

Negative interest rate policies are pushing central banks to invest in emerging markets assets and currencies, according to a new survey sponsored by HSBC. The RMB, in particular, has seen a rapid growth in popularity over the past few years.

Photo app maker Meitu is planning to list in Hong Kong in 2016 and has mandated a trio of banks to lead the deal.

China Aoyuan Property Group made light work of jittery market conditions on Monday with an extremely popular $250m bond that was more than seven times covered by asset-hungry investors.

An executive director in the loans syndicate and distribution team at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong has quit.

Indonesian television broadcaster MNC Sky Vision has launched the senior syndication phase of its $275m two tranche borrowing.

Chinese online e-commerce company JD.com is set to embark on a roadshow ahead of its very first offshore outing this month.

Chinese technology firm Tencent Holdings is holding conversations with banks for a loan of about $1.5bn, just four months after wrapping up a chunky fundraising.

The Shanghai Clearing House (SHCH) is planning to establish a Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) bond market. The bonds will be denominated in offshore renminbi and sold to offshore investors, several sources close to the initiative have told GlobalCapital Asia's sister publication GlobalRMB.

Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group is on track for its first dollar bond while the Export-Import Bank of China (Chexim) has opted for a dual-currency, triple-tranche offering for its return.

CIMB Group chairman and director Nazir Razak has taken a voluntary leave of absence pending a board review on banking activities relating to his personal account.