Asia Pacific

UOB sold a rare bank capital deal this week, raising S$1bn ($792.3m) from a bond that will help it pay back an outstanding issue that will start to lose its regulatory capital value this year. The rarity of the deal — and the commitment of some repeat investors — helped the bank refinance at a much cheaper level than it would have paid in the dollar market, according to bankers.

A massive inflow of Chinese investment into South America last year has brought significant short-term benefits, but could worsen the region’s addiction to commodity exports

British and Dutch consumer products company Unilever raised Rmb300m ($45.7m) in the Hong Kong renminbi market on Monday, generating Rmb3bn of demand despite the order book being open for less than three hours.

Venezuela has announced further multi-billion loan-for-oil deals with China, heightening concerns that it may become overreliant on Chinese trade and investment

The Republic of the Philippines raised $1.5bn at the start of the week, finding an open slot in its heavy maturity profile and jumping to the market after investors’ concerns over Japan started to wane.

Philippine issuers will still see global peso bonds as a legitimate funding option, said a senior DCM banker — despite one of the country’s state-owned banks dropping a planned deal and turning to the dollar bond market at the end of last week.

Auto-lender Orix Corp priced a Rmb400m ($60.8m) three year bond on Tuesday, the first Hong Kong renminbi issue from a Japanese company. The deal generated more than Rmb2.3bn of orders and investors had few questions about how the company might be affected by the earthquake.

Hong Kong-based display monitor company TPV Technology raised Rmb500m ($76m) at the start of the week, generating strong demand for its first foray into the Hong Kong renminbi bond market.

Lloyds Bank made its debut in the Singapore dollar market this week, tapping local investors only two weeks after its parent company announced it had returned to a headline profit.