Asia Pacific

Chinese search engine company Baidu is tapping the Asian syndicated loan market for the first time, opening a $1bn dual-trancher to lenders. It is offering close to what peers paid on recent loans, despite its more concentrated business model, but there is speculation it could be lining up an acquisition, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Indian company Shriram Transport Finance is holding conversations with banks for a rupee denominated offshore syndicated loan — the first of its kind. The talks follow a change in guidelines late last year for overseas debt raising, as the central bank encourages the development of the Masala market.

The securitization of non-performing loans was the main topic of discussion at the China Securitization Forum 2016 in Beijing as the market gets to grips with the new product.

Green financing in China is blossoming after the inaugural offering from a non-financial firm last week and with the Brics bank also mulling a green bond. With the market taking off, participants want regulators to strengthen the supervision of proceeds to ensure the asset class also grows in quality. Narae Kim reports.

Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) is set to become the fourth IPO on the Cambodian Stock Exchange after gaining regulatory approval to list.

AK Medical Holdings has filed a preliminary prospectus for its planned Hong Kong IPO, with Goldman Sachs as sole sponsor.

Ford Auto Finance (China) is poised to launch its first auto ABS transaction of the year with a Rmb2.98bn ($464m) deal scheduled to open books next week.

A spate of dim sum MTN issuance that began with Australian banks has spread to include Canadian, Middle Eastern and European institutions.

Appetite for Korea Resources Corp’s offshore outing on Monday was strong despite Moody’s recent decision to review its rating for a downgrade. Not only was the issuer able to increase the bond’s size to $500m but it also found a high quality order book.

Chinese bank participation as originators of securitized deals is likely to remain limited as there is little incentive for banks to offload assets from their balance sheets, structured finance specialists have said.

India’s Larsen & Toubro refiled a draft prospectus for the listing of its information technology (IT) services arm on Tuesday, this time eyeing a smaller deal worth about Rp13bn ($196m).

Small finance bank (SFB) Equitas Holdings made a splash in India this week, pricing the country’s largest, and one of the most popular, IPOs of the year at the top of guidance. The Rp22.5bn ($337.4m) listing is the first from an SFB in the country and its success came despite foreign investors playing no role in the transaction.