Asia Pacific

South Korean internet company Naver Corp, best known for its search platform, has made its debut in the bond market with a $500m sustainability note.

Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodity traders, has completed its European bank facility refinancing to add sustainability-linked targets to its debt, a month after the company made its debut in the Schuldshein market.

Linklogis has begun drumming up demand for its Hong Kong listing, after winning approval from the city’s stock exchange.

Natixis has hired Sanjeev Kumar as its new senior country manager for Singapore, as well as head of southeast and south Asia corporate and investment banking.

Zhihu has kicked off the roadshow for its US listing. The Chinese company is aiming to raise up to $632.5m from the public market, and a further $250m from a handful of high-profile investors through private placements concurrent to the IPO.

The Republic of the Maldives, which took a big hit to its tourism-reliant economy last year due to the pandemic, announced a tender and new money offer on Monday, returning to the dollar bond market after a three year hiatus.

Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp is planning a quick return to the loan market, sending out a request for proposals for two loans totalling $930m to support an iron ore mining project in Australia.

In this round-up, China leaves the benchmark lending rates steady yet again, the central bank’s monetary policy committee gets a reshuffle, and senior foreign policy officials from Beijing and Washington fail to agree on key issues at a high-stakes meeting.

In this round-up, economists expect China’s GDP to grow at a faster pace than previously forecasted, Vanguard decides to take a step back from its plan to establish a wholly-owned fund management company in the Mainland, and Luckin Coffee pushes forward a debt restructuring and a potential equity investment deal.

Delhi International Airport (Dial) had to pay a hefty premium for its $450m green bond amid investor concerns about market volatility and the state of the travel industry.

Krung Thai Bank Public Co (KTB) sold a Basel-III compliant additional tier one bond this week, ending a seven-year break from the international dollar debt market to bag $600m.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co used a standby letter of credit from Bank of China's Singapore branch to price its $400m bond inside fair value.