Asia Pacific

The visit of president Xi Jinping to the UK this week has stirred much debate about the degree of kowtowing by British politicians and royals to the Chinese leader. But politics aside, the glut of new measures and transactions that accompanied the visit means the London RMB hub advanced in leaps and bounds.

The internationalisation of the Schuldschein market, Germany's answer to private placements, has been widely hailed, with foreign issuers and investors increasingly prominent. But even the banks that arrange the deals now include some surprising non-German names, writes Elly Whittaker.

The Indian IPO market is back in full swing with Coffee Day Enterprises seeing a solid outcome for its Rp11.94bn ($183m) deal, in what was the country’s first chunky listing in years. The transaction’s success, buoyed particularly by interest from institutional accounts, has now paved the way for a flurry of IPOs to follow, writes Rashmi Kumar.

Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) opened books on Thursday morning for a three year debut offshore renminbi deal, which comes with a standby letter of credit from Bank of China’s Singapore branch.

The Vietnam government’s prized stakes in 10 firms are up for grabs, as the state looks to sell down its holdings in the country’s largest dairy producer, a telecommunications firm and an insurer among others.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) priced its first offshore bond on October 20, raising Rmb5bn ($788m) from a dim sum deal widely hailed as important for the internationalisation of the Chinese currency. But while the transaction is a landmark for the country, doubts remain about whether more such issuance will follow from the central bank, write Carrie Hong and Narae Kim.

Bank of China (BoC) launched a new renminbi bond index simultaneously in London, Beijing and Singapore on October 20. The index is aimed at getting more foreign investors buying onshore bonds and in turn further boost the use of RMB globally, Le Yan, deputy general manager of Shanghai RMB trading unit, financial markets department at Bank of China, told GlobalRMB.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is fine-tuning its rules for IPOs of mineral, oil and gas exploration or extraction (MOG) firms, following in the footsteps of several bourses in the region. The proposal brings Malaysia closer to international standards for MOG listings, but has elicited mixed responses from industry participants, writes John Loh.

Julius Baer has announced plans to issue a Singapore dollar-denominated Basel III additional tier one (AT1). If it goes ahead with the deal, the Swiss firm will be the first foreign bank to issue an AT1 in the city state.

Hong Kong and London’s futures and commodities exchanges have singed a pact to develop a trading link between Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) and the London Metal Exchange (LME), alongside a clearing link to be called the London-Hong Kong Connect.

Westpac has appointed Sneha Sanghvi as its new head of financial markets for Asia, replacing Michael Bass who is relocating to the bank’s London office.

China Reinsurance priced Hong Kong’s third largest IPO of the year at the top of the range to raise HK$15.58bn ($2.01bn), drawing an outpouring of interest from global investors. The trade has buoyed hopes among ECM bankers, as they seek to put a sullen summer behind them.