Asia Pacific

China Reinsurance Corp (China Re) is looking to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange via a $2bn IPO in what could be one of the city’s largest debuts this year.

Greentown China Holdings successfully persuaded bondholders of its two existing dollar notes into a new $500m five year non call three dollar bond on July 31. Bankers on the deal say the exchange offer ended up satisfying both the issuer and investors.

Investors could not get enough of India’s Syngene International as a more than 32x covered book helped propel the biotech firm to price its Rp5.5bn ($86m) IPO at the top of its indicative price range.

Asia’s US dollar bond market has started the week with a bang, with China Auto Rental (CAR), Peking University Founder Group and Shanghai Electric opening books for their respective transactions on Monday, August 3.

South Korea’s Kookmin Bank is sounding investors out for an upcoming covered bond that’s likely to hit the market as early as this week.

Weak Chinese PMI data and lower repo fixings have supported receiving interest in short CNY swaps and a steeper curve on Monday. Market participants expect the steepening trend to continue in the near-term, with 30bp in 2s/5s NDIRS considered a key level, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

BMO Financial Group has appointed a new CEO for its private banking unit in Asia, BMO Private Bank Asia, with Monique Chan taking the top spot.

Singapore-listed Frasers Centrepoint (FCL), which raised a £300m ($468.5m) five year loan from Barclays, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered to fund the acquisition of boutique hotel chain Malmaison Hotel du Vin, has opened the loan into wider syndication.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has launched evaluated bond prices (EBP) on its website, which will provide market participants with secondary prices for SGX-listed bonds.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has made its Singapore and Hong Kong bond teams redundant as it continues to carry out a restructuring that will substantially reduce its presence in Asia.

Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) subsidiary Bharat PetroResources (BPRL) has mandated one lender for a $150m facility. The proceeds of the loan are for capital expenditure.

Zurich-based Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re) received the first quota in the RMB qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII) programme among Swiss asset managers on July 29, according to the latest data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe).