Asia Pacific

The Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) is set to welcome only its third IPO since the bourse opened in 2012, as a state-owned port operator looks to list this month. While progress has been slow in its equity capital market, rising interest from foreign investors and a much-needed push from the government may turn the tide. John Loh reports.

The next stage of RMB internationalisation needs to focus on improving the connectivity between the onshore and offshore market to improve liquidity. This could be done encouraging more foreign entities to raise funds through Panda bonds and providing more offshore investment routes for onshore RMB, says Zhang Weiwu, general manager of ICBC Singapore, to GlobalRMB.

Beijing Environment Sanitation Engineering Group Co (BESG) has mandated banks ahead of launching a roadshow next week in Asia and Europe.

BoC Aviation has swooped into the syndicated loan market for a $300m unsecured transaction, launching the deal with four banks at the top.

Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF) has returned to the offshore loan market after more than a year for a $150m fundraising, which is backed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The Japanese green financing market received a boost this week with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) issuing the country’s second green bond.

South Korea’s first covered bond under its new rules finally came to fruition with Kookmin Bank selling a long awaited offering that had been in the works since June. But the delay proved worthwhile as the sovereign rating upgrade in September allowed the borrower to win over investors.

Coffee Day Enterprises opened books for its Rp11.94bn ($183m) IPO on Wednesday, after putting roughly a quarter of the trade in the hands of anchor investors. But the caution of the leads appears clear, with the stock allocated to anchors at the middle of guidance.

China Huarong Asset Management launched its HK$19.6bn ($2.52bn) IPO on Thursday, with the deal off to a good start thanks to cornerstone investors.

Activity in Asia’s secondary loan market has picked up over the past few months as banks seek to manage their portfolios more efficiently. This is attracting intermediaries such as fixed income specialist SC Lowy, which has set up a par loan trading business in the region. But while there are opportunities, there are also plenty of challenges holding back growth in the nascent market, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Short-end CNY swaps have been well offered on yuan strength and weak Chinese data today. Looking ahead, gradually improving risk sentiment is expected to back paying in mid-sector swaps and a steeper 1s/5s NDIRS curve slope, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

The Republic of Korea has sent out a request for proposals for an offshore bond to be issued as early as this month.