Asia Pacific

Aditya Birla Group company UltraTech Cement has wound up a $365m dual-tranche refinancing with five lenders in the syndicate.

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic has become the first foreign issuer to sell a dollar bond in Thailand’s domestic market, raising $182m from a privately placed offering.

Australia and New Zealand Bank has given its deputy chief executive, Graham Hodges, the additional role of acting chief financial officer.

In the last RMB round-up of 2015, HSBC became the first foreign bank to issue RMB-denominated CDs to corporates in China, Hungary plans RMB bonds in 2016 and Russian bank VTB saw a big boost to its RMB business in 2015. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) is set to return to the dollar bond market as early as the first week of January, having issued a request for proposals.

Asia’s equity capital market is beginning to wind down after enduring its most difficult period in years. As bankers turn the page on 2015 and some high profile trades get lined up for next year, market watchers are hoping that things won’t be so volatile in 2016. John Loh reports.

India's Azure Power Global is seeking approval to float on the New York Stock Exchange, having a filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

Fosun Group has hit the limelight following the disappearance and re-appearance of its co-founder chairman Guo Guangchang, who is understood to be assisting Chinese authorities with an investigation. The news has delayed an ongoing syndicated loan for an affiliated company and has prompted bankers to say they will take a more cautious approach towards privately owned Chinese borrowers. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

More cross-border RMB activities can be expected as the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has approved Rmb50bn ($774m) of RQFII quota to Thailand, and agreed with Russia to deepen bilateral financial co-operations, including facilitating the Russian government to issue Panda bond in China.

South Korea’s stock market regulator has relaxed rules governing lock-up periods, which until now had banned certain shareholders from selling their shares for six months after an IPO. The amendments come as the Korea Exchange tries to make the listing process easier and encourage more floats on its bourse.

One of my banker friends had always found Hong Kong to be the most glamorous city because every time he was here for work, he stayed in luxury.

Bank of Zhengzhou has raised HK$5.08bn ($656m) via its Hong Kong IPO after pricing at the floor of its range on Wednesday.