Asia Pacific

Four banks are set to sign the mandate letter for a $210m loan to support private equity firm KKR’s acquisition of India’s JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals.

Cigarette packaging producer Amvig Holdings has made a rapid comeback to the loan market for a HK$1.35bn ($174m) borrowing.

Kookmin Bank is expected to surface later this week with its first euro covered bond which will fund social housing. The deal is to emerge amid mounting concern that diminishing supply, rising redemptions and aggressive central bank buying will cause an unprecedented technical squeeze in the covered bond market.

Mainland-based firms OcuMension Therapeutics and Immunotech Biopharm sealed their Hong Kong IPOs at the top of guidance, riding on support from both institutional and retail investors.

VPBank Finance Co, the consumer finance arm of Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank, has launched a $200m new money loan.

Wuhan Dangdai Science & Technology Industries (Group) Co chose a quiet Friday for deal flow to raise $200.5m from a tap.

Cathay Media and Education Group is set to wrap up bookbuilding for its Hong Kong IPO two days early, on the back of strong demand from institutional investors, according to a source close to the deal.

In this round-up, regulators release official guidelines for follow-on offerings in the Nasdaq-style Star market, issuers of onshore ‘enterprise bonds’ get an extension on their regulatory approvals, and a financial unit of JD.com starts pre-listing education for its Star debut.

The Australian Treasury has unveiled its funding plans for its new 2020-21 fiscal year, funding its coronavirus response via a record number of syndications and an extension of its curve out to 2051.

In this round-up, local governments are encouraged to use debt raised to improve smaller lenders’ capital ratio, the Bond Connect scheme launched three years ago helps foreign holding in Chinese bonds to top Rmb2.6tr, and Luckin Coffee’s Lu Zhengyao holds on to his chairman role.

Country Garden has launched a $1.5bn-equivalent loan into general syndication after mandating a group of nine banks.

Lu Zhengyao will remain chairman of Chinese chain Luckin Coffee after a vote to remove him went in his favour.