Asia Pacific

The central bank of Laos has rolled out a debut offshore syndication of up to $200m as it looks to diversify its funding channels. It has decided to take a strategic approach to its financing by tapping only a select pool of liquidity, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

United Overseas Bank (UOB) recently hired Ben Chan Ho Fai as the head of RMB solutions, a new unit that the bank set up earlier year.

Primary bond activity in Asia picked up again on Thursday following the end of the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), with a pair of Chinese issuers launching separate deals in dollars and euros.

The renminbi fell back one place to be the fifth most used currency for international payments by value, Swift said in its October 29 report.

The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect is approaching its first birthday, with market participants eager to see the scheme expanded to reach its full potential with the inclusion of the Shenzhen-listed stocks as the first order of business and a potential expansion overseas to London. But from an infrastructure perspective, there remains a wide gap between China and most developed markets.

S H Kelkar & Co looks set to continue the strong momentum in the Indian IPO market, with investors clamouring for shares in the flavour and fragrance producer’s Rp5bn ($77m) float.

Swedish lender Swedbank kept Australian dollar supply ticking over on Tuesday, pricing its first bond in the currency since 2008.

China Cinda Asset Management has sent out a request for proposals for a loan of around $5bn to back its bid for the acquisition of Nanyang Commercial Bank, according to sources.

SSA borrowers this week provided investors with a strong line up of innovative products. A new standard was set in SRI bonds, Cyprus raised €1bn via an innovative switch offer, Italy sold two year debt at a negative yield and British Columbia is lining up its debt Panda bond.

China International Capital Corp (CICC), which is looking to raise HK$6.29bn ($811.61m) in a Hong Kong IPO, has sent out a covered book message to investors ahead of its expected pricing on Friday.

HSBC Global Asset Management has named Puneet Chaddha as chief executive officer of Singapore as well as head of southeast Asia.

Korea Housing Finance Corp is gearing up to issue its first covered bond in more than two years and is set to meet investors from next week.