Asia Pacific

China has taken yet another step towards merging its exchange and interbank bond markets, by kicking off a way to link their market infrastructure providers.

Bonds from Indian corporations were among the worst performing investment grade deals in Asia last week. The primary market also suffered, with one deal cancelled and another put on hold.

Hexaware Technologies, an Indian software company majority owned by Baring Private Equity Asia, has mandated nine banks for a $600m take-private loan.

Mindspace Business Parks Real Estate Investment Trust is ready to take India's nascent Reit market further with the country's second listing from the asset class.

Shenzhen-listed Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting has caught the attention of international and local investors for its secondary listing on the Hong Kong exchange, set to be worth at least $1bn.

In this round-up, Beijing eases the cap for equity investment in insurance companies, the China Securities Regulatory Commission mulls consolidation, and the top financial regulators in Hong Kong tell the finance industry not to fret over the security law.

Each week, Keeping Tabs brings you the very best of what we have found most useful, interesting and informative from around the web. This week: what’s next for the US after its war on Huawei, the impact that more robots would have on the gender pay gap, and a look on the bright side of Europe’s mishmash of state guarantee schemes.

In this round-up, China’s GDP growth for the second quarter beats expectations by a large margin, the banking and insurance regulator asks financial institutions to step up efforts to eliminate the shadow banking sector, and a green-dedicated national fund is up and running in Shanghai.

In this round-up, the UK bars Huawei Technologies from its 5G mobile network, the Chinese foreign ministry retaliates against recent US sanctions, and Donald Trump signs an executive order that ends Hong Kong’s preferential trade treatment.

China has introduced a primary legal framework to tackle bond defaults, bringing together separate guidelines that had been in place for each of its three debt markets. While the move simplifies things for bondholders, there are still a number of unanswered questions, said bankers.

China’s onshore bond market has experienced huge selling pressure over the last few months, leading to a sharp rise in domestic yields. But bankers say not all issuers are willing to accept “the new reality”.

Are Asian bond issuers being unrealistic with their price targets? Some bankers in the region say recent volatility should force issuers to rethink their expectations.