Asia Pacific

Singapore has been a front-runner when it comes to moving away from Libor to a new benchmark, with its regulators, borrowers and banks playing an active role in preparing the market. The rest of Asia’s loan market should pay attention.

Fosun International has pocketed HK$2.45bn ($316.3m) after selling a chunk of Tsingtao Brewery's stock in a block trade, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Beijing-headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has played a pre-eminent role in tackling Covid-19 this year, mainly by offering financial support to countries like Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Vietnam to combat the impact of the pandemic. But its work is not nearly over, as second and third waves of the coronavirus hit countries around the world.

Richard Gould is leaving CLSA, the international platform of China's Citic Securities, after spending less than 18 months as its chief executive.

Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur, an Indonesian instant noodle maker, has launched a $2.05bn-equivalent acquisition loan into syndication. The rare appearance of a strong credit in the market this year means banks appear eager to join the deal, writes Pan Yue.

CP Merchandising Co, a subsidiary of Thai agro-industrial and food conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods, has launched its $500m debut loan into general syndication.

South Korean game developer Kakao Games is preparing to open a two-day subscription period for its IPO, after pricing the stock at the top of the marketed range.

Asia’s dollar bond market started Monday on a positive note despite investors having to navigate some surprising news from Japan and the US last week.

Bottled water and beverage company Nongfu Spring has taken advantage of a flood of demand from institutional and retail investors for its Hong Kong IPO to price the HK$8.35bn ($1.08bn) deal at the top of guidance.

Yum China Holdings, a fast food restaurant franchiser, launched the roadshow for its secondary listing in Hong Kong on Monday to strong early momentum from investors.

In this round-up, China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for August misses expectations by a small margin, BlackRock becomes the first global asset manager to enter the mutual fund industry onshore, and the sale of TikTok’s US operations faces new challenges as Beijing tightens technology export controls.

The administrator of Peking University Founder Group’s debt has decided not to recognise the dollar bonds that came with a keepwell deed and deed of equity interest purchase undertaking, a move that can have a ‘major impact’ on the region’s debt market.