Asia Pacific

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has added to its ECM syndicate desk in Hong Kong with an internal transfer, according to sources with knowledge of the move.

The Indian government scored a big coup last week, selling a stake in Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on a day when markets globally were roiling in volatility. But the fact that it relied on the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to push the deal through is wrong, and casts a shadow on the country’s divestment programme.

Taiwanese leasing company Chailease International Financial Service is considering raising the size of its borrowing marginally to $130m, after six banks joined the deal during syndication.

Sadbhav Infrastructure Project is poised to close its Rp4.9bn ($74m) IPO on September 2, safe in the knowledge that more than 40% of the deal has been taken up by anchor investors.

Barclays has made a clutch of new hires in Australia in recent months, with the latest being Duncan Hogg as its new head of M&A, as the bank looks to bolster its cross-border M&A, financing and associated risk management businesses.

The vast majority of payments from South Korea to China and Hong Kong are now processed in RMB, Swift said in its latest RMB Tracker report issued on September 1. A day earlier, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) said it had added three new Seoul-based institutional investors to the RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) programme in August, with 60% of the Rmb80bn ($12.4bn) country quota now distributed.

Nomura has appointed Chee Pin Lee as the head of financial products and solutions for wealth management, Asia ex-Japan, in what is a newly created role at the bank.

Law firm Ropes & Gray has strengthened its private equity practice, hiring Daniel Yeh as a partner in the Hong Kong office.

A $240m dividend recapitalisation loan for Asia Satellite Telecommunications' (AsiaSat) sponsor Carlyle has seen seven banks commit so far, with one more lender awaited.

Onshore Chinese corporates are generally bearish on the short-term outlook for the economy as sentiment remains fragile, according to a new report from Standard Chartered. Companies are also predicting the renminbi will weaken by year end with the increased volatility increasing their interest in managing FX risk.

Property developer HKR International has increased the size of its borrowing to HK$8bn ($1.032bn) to accommodate the 14 lenders that have formed the syndicate group.

China Reinsurance Corp (Chine Re) has kicked off a soft pre-marketing for its $2bn IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as investors remain in a risk-off mood amid global volatility.