Asia Pacific

Cambodia’s Prasac Microfinance Institution has returned to the loan market for $200m, narrowing pricing by 35bp compared to its last transaction in 2020.

Mining Industry Indonesia (Mind ID) is testing lenders’ appetite for a $1.5bn dual-tranche loan that has been launched into syndication through a group of eight banks.

Banks are optimistic that sustainability-linked bonds have a bright future as part of their funding toolkits, after Berlin Hyp became the first financial institution to land a deal in the format this week. More trades are already on the way and market participants are stepping up their efforts to break down the remaining barriers for FIG borrowers.

A planned restructuring of China’s Ant Group into a financial holding company has raised questions — and fuelled speculation — about when the firm is able to revive its derailed IPO and how it will be valued. Addison Gong reports.

Fears around the health of China Huarong Asset Management Co rattled investors this week and took a toll on Asia’s bond market. The bad debt manager’s dollar bonds have tumbled, bringing new issuance from China to a near halt and putting pressure on other state-linked credits in the secondary market. Morgan Davis reports.

It was the best of wines, it was the worst of wines. It was the age of Riesling, it was the age of cheap plonk from 7/11. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity that anyone would charge you that much for something that tasted like Lambrini.

Imagine trying to explain stock markets to an alien or an intelligent caveman, someone who has grown up in a world without the flicker of red and green numbers, the theatre of shareholder meetings, the strange spectacle of Jim Cramer’s pre-scheduled rage.

Alan Roch, Standard Chartered's head of bond syndication for Asia, has resigned after about three years at the bank.

South Korea's Shinhan Bank became the latest Asian bank to sell a sustainability bond this month. It raised $500m from its transaction, but felt some pressure from the risk-off sentiment in the region’s credit market.

Guotai Junan Securities Co faced a choppy market backdrop to price a $500m bond on Wednesday, becoming one of only a handful of Chinese issuers to head offshore this week.

JPM’s Apac IB vice-chairman steps down – StanChart's Roch exits – Shah resigns from CS – MUFG names ESG finance head – UBS hires for syndicate team

Several European banks’ noses were put out of joint this week by research from Jefferies, which suggested a very different ranking of banks’ ESG characteristics from that investors usually get from rating providers. The study argued commercial ESG ratings on banks are not fit for purpose.