Asia Pacific

VietinBank, one of the four largest state owned commercial lenders from Vietnam, is accessing the offshore syndicated loan market for the third time this year, via a $100m three year that is now in general syndication. The margin on the loan is below 200bp.

HSBC has appointed Michael Bevan as its new head of financial sponsors group (FSG) for Asia Pacific, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Technical preparations for the Shenzhen stock bridge are under way, but Chinese market turbulence may delay plans, said Hong Kong Exchange Group (HKEx) chief executive Charles Li at a press briefing on August 12. Meanwhile, HKEx saw record CNH futures volumes after the recent PBoC fixing reform, with Li noting markets now had real need of hedging RMB positions.

Julius Baer has appointed Jimmy Lee as its new head of Asia Pacific and a member of the Swiss private bank’s executive board.

European banks decamped to the dollar market this week as that in euros showed signs of seasonal slowness, Meanwhile, BNP Paribas’ debut dollar additional tier one (AT1) is being delayed by a China related sell off.

The renminbi could be set to fall another 6% before it finds a bottom, onshore China FX traders told GlobalRMB on Wednesday, after two days of the biggest devaluations in the currency for decades. The daily fix fell 1.86% on Tuesday and a further 1.62% on Wednesday, to 6.3306, but traders said that it could hit 6.70 before finding a bottom.

Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Auto Finance Co has increased the size of its latest loan to Rmb1bn ($158m) from a launch size of Rmb800m, as 14 banks piled in during general syndication. The borrower’s strong market position helped whip up interest, according to bankers.

A second day of weakening in the People's Bank of China (PBoC) fixing of the onshore renminbi (CNY) by 1.6% on August 12 saw analysts divided between seeing the new fixing system as a positive step for the reform agenda while also warning that sharp and rapid depreciation of the RMB did not bode well for the currency's global appeal.

Since adjusting its currency fixing process on Tuesday, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has overseen the biggest two-day depreciation in the yuan in more than two decades. HSBC has described the CNY swap market sell-off as counterintuitive — and sees current elevated rate levels as an opportunity, writes Maia Ririnui of Total Derivatives.

Malaysia’s Johor Corp (JCorp) has fixed the pricing of its Al-Salam Reit IPO at MR1 ($0.25) per unit, with bookbuilding scheduled to begin at the start of September.

HNA Capital successfully wrapped up its first dollar bond issue on August 11. The debutant's deal was the only one in the market, after it was assured that a private bank rebate and juicy pricing could draw demand.

A $550m borrowing for Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s (BRI), which is due to be prefunded by a club of 11 banks, is expected to go into general syndication. Lenders are waiting for Bank Indonesia approval and are targeting signing by the end of August, with the first drawdown in the first week of September.