Asia Pacific

Pirelli will not refinance its €6.8bn acquisition bridge loan in the bond market as planned. A torpid high yield bond market has spooked the borrower away from capital markets and back to bank loans.

This week ChemChina launched syndication for the European tranche of its Syngenta acquisition loan. The deal is much bigger than many expected, at $20bn.

Santander Consumer Finance opened up a new Tokyo Pro-Bond programme worth €10bn on Tuesday, following a similar move from its UK sister borrower last year.

TCC Group has invited banks to pitch for a $3.5bn financing to support its acquisition of a stake in retailer Big C Supercenter. Bankers are welcoming the deal as it provides an opportunity to book Thai assets following a lull in foreign currency loan activity from the country. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

The Asian debt capital market did not have an easy 2015 with numerous macro and political headwinds causing a fall in new issuance. While jittery conditions are here to stay, Clifford Lee, head of fixed income for DBS, told GlobalCapital Asia that his business is well positioned to combat the volatility.

CLIQ Energy is set to be the first Malaysian special purpose acquisition company (Spac) to be liquidated after the regulator rejected its request for more time to make a qualifying acquisition.

When I was a banker dazzling clients with my handsome good looks, I was never one to read too much into a bank’s financial results.

India raised Rp50.3bn ($739.3m) from a sell-down in NTPC this week as institutional investors pounced on the trade, giving the government’s divestment programme a last minute boost.

Export-Import Bank of Korea demonstrated its sophistication in the bond market on Wednesday with what market participants believe is the first single tranche dollar bond to be listed in both Singapore and Taiwan. Kexim’s success is set to encourage more high quality foreign issuers to follow in its footsteps.

HSBC’s Asian business gained momentum last year, with the bank booking the lion’s share of its earnings from the region. But there are challenges ahead, with the firm under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its hiring practices.

Deutsche Bank has made a series of senior changes to its debt and loan teams in Asia, which will see Haitham Ghattas, the new head of debt origination for Asia, take charge of four origination units.

State Bank of India has picked banks for a fresh $500m fundraising that is expected to launch into syndication in the next couple of weeks.