Asia Pacific

VTB Capital issued an offshore Rmb1bn bond on December 10, making it the first non-local emerging market borrower to issue in renminbi. However, although the market is expected to grow, the deal is unlikely to herald a flood of renminbi issuance in the near future, said dealers.

Development Bank of the Philippines hopes to become the latest borrower in the global peso bond market, after picking banks to manage a deal.

Shui On Land this week became the first ever issuer to sell a synthetic renminbi deal in the public bond markets, with a Rmb3bn ($450m) transaction that got big demand from investors and neatly demonstrated the strength of demand for renminbi debt and the suitability of the synthetic currency product for Asia’s bond market.

The fledgling offshore renminbi bond market in Hong Kong took a big step forward this week with one landmark transaction completed and another underway — bringing high yield and a Russian bank to the market.

Dim sum bonds — renminbi bonds issued in Hong Kong — continue to flourish in a hungry institutional market. This week Export-Import Bank of China (Chexim) priced a dual tranche Rmb5bn ($750m) bond whose institutional tranche was covered 53 times over.

Incitec Pivot, the Australian fertiliser and explosives manufacturer, raised $500m on Tuesday in a 144a private placement.

A deadly exchange of fire between North and South Korea on Tuesday triggered a sell-off in Asian markets as short-term risk aversion soared across the region.

The Development Bank of Japan plans to sell bonds in the Hong Kong renminbi market and has discussed moving the proceeds of the deal to the mainland with Chinese authorities, Tomoki Matsuda, director general of DBJ’s treasury department, said this week.