Asia Pacific

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) sold a subordinated perpetual bond in the Singapore dollar market this week, marking its return to the currency after more than a decade, as well as its first perp.

Trip.com Group has launched bookbuilding for its HK$10.5bn ($1.35bn) secondary listing in Hong Kong, testing investor appetite amid growing pains for the pandemic-hampered travel industry and as the performance of recent IPO debuts in the city fizzles.

Asia’s capital markets had a hot first quarter, with volumes soaring across both DCM and ECM. Momentum still appears strong — but market participants should brace themselves for a tough time ahead.

Redco Properties Group raised $220m on Wednesday from its first sustainability bond.

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank sold its debut sustainability bond on Wednesday, raising $1.5bn and notching a number of other firsts with its deal. Morgan Davis reports.

Iqbal Nasim, head of financial institutions at ICBC (London), will leave the bank in the middle of April to set up a desk at a smaller Asian lender.

Dutch internet company Prosus is looking to pocket up to HK$114.17bn ($14.67bn) from an accelerated sale of shares in Tencent Holdings.

Citi has appointed one of its senior Shanghai-based bankers as the new head of corporates coverage for China.

Indian real estate company Macrotech Developers has kicked off bookbuilding for its up to Rp25.1bn ($338.2m) listing.

Chinese online travel giant Trip.com Group is set to launch bookbuilding for its Hong Kong secondary offering this week, after getting the go ahead from the city’s bourse.

China Huarong Asset Management Co’s dollar bonds have been hit in the secondary market, following an announcement that the company’s 2020 annual results are delayed. But analysts have warned against reading too much into the postponement, saying it could signal positive developments at the firm.

Defaulted bond issuer Kangde Xin Composite Material Co is expected to be delisted from the stock exchange of Shenzhen next month, a move that will end an over two year probe by Chinese regulators into the company.