Asia Pacific

After nearly a year without any travel, many of us have become desperate to leave the gilded cage of Hong Kong. I, for one, would give anything to be able to laze on the beaches of Thailand with a Piña Colada in my hand — if I could only avoid the three-week quarantine on my return to Hong Kong.

The scope for investors to get behind decarbonising some of the most difficult industries was highlighted on Wednesday by a report showing that only 14% of leading heavy industrial companies are aligned with limiting global warming to 2°C by 2050.

Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) is planning to sell its debut dollar bond in late March, in what would be a rare international corporate outing from the country.

The logistics unit of Chinese internet company JD.com is planning to list in Hong Kong through a multi-billion-dollar IPO.

The Hong Kong regulator’s plan to overhaul the bookbuilding and allocation process for equity and bond deals has some worthy goals. But it is unnecessary for a market that has proven able to clean its own house.

RailTel Corporation of India, a state-owned information and communication technology infrastructure provider, has received strong and early retail support for its upto Rp8.19bn ($112.4m) IPO.

VPBank Finance Co, the consumer finance arm of Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank, has further increased the size of its loan to $230m after additional banks joined the deal.

Japan's NEC Corp offloaded its remaining stake in Hong Kong-listed Hua Hong Semiconductor on Tuesday, raising HK$5.69bn ($733.9m).

Taiwanese leasing company Chailease International Finance Corp has made a quick return to the loan market through its Singapore entity.

Two SSA borrowers hit screens on Tuesday to announce benchmark bonds. Deal flow in the SSA market has slowed after the January rush, but borrowers are still keeping investors busy with a regular flow of deals.

HSBC has appointed a group chief sustainability officer, Celine Herweijer, to lead its effort to fulfil its commitment to being a net zero carbon emissions bank by 2050.

Chinese teahouse chain Nayuki Holdings has set its Hong Kong IPO in motion, having dropped an earlier plan to list in the US.