Asia Pacific

The International Finance Corporation is expected to sell its first offshore renminbi bond listed in London as early as next week in a bid to diversify its investor base in the currency.

Dim sum regular Caterpillar opted to price its latest dim sum deal wider than other recent bonds from multinational corporates on Monday night, with a view to shoring up demand for future issues.

The renminbi’s dramatic plunge during recent days came as a nasty shock to the consensus opinion to hold a long position in the currency.

February proved to be another blow-out month for offshore renminbi issuance despite a storm of negative headlines from China and concerns about the sudden depreciation of the currency. But the fun isn’t over as a high volume of redemptions, favourable arbitrage opportunities and the participation of multinational corporates means the pipeline remains strong, write Virginia Furness and Isabella Zhong.

Unilever refinanced a three year dim sum bond at 2.95% on February 21, much higher than the original bond’s coupon of 1.15%, as the market grows increasingly investor friendly.

The UK and Singapore have announced the UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue, an initiative aimed at deepening the financial and economic co-operation between the two countries. Alongside the Dialogue, a new private sector forum will also be established to boost the development of the offshore renminbi market, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced this week, writes Carrie Hong.

Gemdale (Asia) Investment launched a three year dim sum bond on Wednesday to refinance its existing bonds after management change at the company triggered a change of control put. Negative headwinds from China rather than the trigger meant that demand for the bond was weaker, according to bankers on the deal.

Bank of China (Singapore) priced the year’s first offshore renminbi bond aimed at Singapore on February 25. It amassed a huge orderbook as investors took advantage of a rare opportunity to buy into a five year investment grade dim sum bond.

The reality that China’s currency can go down as well as up was rammed home to investors last week as a correction in both the onshore and offshore markets caused a stir in the market, writes Carrie Hong.

The bank has announced a new treasury platform for its client’s Free Trade Zone-based subsidiary. Paolo Danese reports.

Gemdale (Asia) Investment launched a three year Dim Sum bond on Wednesday to refinance its existing bonds after an ownership change at the company triggered a change of control put. Bankers on the deal argued about whether perceptions of weak demand were down to negative economic headwinds from China rather than the CoC, however.

BP Capital Markets priced its latest dim sum bond on Monday though was forced to offer an generous guidance over its existing curve to stand out in what is a very busy market. However investors still flocked to take advantage of the attractive pricing and a quality multinational credit with the orderbook closing at Rmb3.6bn ($571m).