Asia Pacific

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has tapped the dollar bond market for the second time this year with a $1.5bn transaction. Even though the sovereign had to pay up more than in its May outing, it ended up executing its largest ever bond.

Nordic companies are showing a strong willingness to adopt the renminbi for payments which is a creating an opportunity for Sweden’s SEB Paula da Silva, head of transaction services at SEB, told GlobalRMB at the recent Sibos conference held in Singapore.

The surprise devaluation of the RMB in August surprised the markets, but banks are still seeing growing interest in the Shanghai pilot free trade zone (FTZ) as a treasury hub that can help manage local and regional liquidity needs. And the Chinese authorities have just pledged more liberalisation in the future.

The syndication timeline for a $145m loan backing the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of some Indian assets has been pushed back.

Next month sees the launch of the China Europe International Exchange (CEINEX), a joint venture between China and Germany. The exchange will develop and distribute offshore RMB including five new ETFS that are expected go live at the same time as CEINEX.

InterGlobe Aviation has launched its IPO of as much as Rp32.5bn ($500m) after finding robust demand from anchor orders, with their response expected to boost interest from other investors during bookbuilding.

Indonesia’s Trikomsel Oke announced this week that it won't be able to pay interest on two Singapore dollar bonds owing to financial difficulties. If it happens, it would be the first case of default in the Singapore bond market since the global financial crisis, and is expected to rock the city-state’s debt market.

Chinese borrowers have unsettled loans bankers by either slashing the size or the margin of their dollar loans at the last minute. The moves have been criticised by lenders forced to gain approvals from their credit committees all over again. But banks need to adapt quickly. With China’s credit environment changing at such a rapid pace, such tactics are only likely to become more frequent.

Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) has priced the second euro-denominated bond by a Chinese auto company, following a recent issue from one of its peers. A total of seven firms were hired as joint global co-ordinators for the €500m ($552m) deal after the issuer added five more banks to the syndicate to reward them for placing anchor orders.

Citi has hired a former Standard Chartered banker as its new chief economist for India.

South Korea’s Jeju Air has priced its IPO above the range provided during bookbuilding after nearly 750 investors signed up for the deal.

Xinyi Solar has raised a smaller-than-expected HK$543.5m ($70.1m) from a top-up placement of shares, shrinking the deal by about 45% following its launch. Despite the transaction being slashed, sources are adamant the company found a good window to raise equity.